Andy Murray has backed the potential merger between the ATP and WTA, describing the idea as ‘promising.’
The three time grand slam champion has been vocal when talking about female and male athletes in the past and the idea of a merger appeals to the Brit.
When speaking to Christine Amanpour of CNN, Murray described the potential as ‘promising’ but also issued a warning about discussions, “When you have a lot of the top male players now starting to discuss and talk about it, that’s definitely very promising,” Murray told the American news channel.
“When these discussions happen it’s quite important not just to see this merger through a man’s eyes and to bring more women into the decision-making positions so that everyone’s voice gets heard.
“I spoke to some of the male players… who were unhappy because the prize money was equal and I said ‘well would you rather there was no increase at all?’ And they said to me ‘Yeah, actually.’ That’s some of the mentalities that you’re working with in these discussions.”
The idea of an ATP-WTA merger was proposed by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, which has had a positive reception from many of the female athletes.
However the likes of Nick Kyrgios have spoke out against the potential of a merger between the two tennis governing bodies.
Did anyone ask the majority of the ATP what they think about merging with the WTA and how it is good for us?
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) April 22, 2020
Also speaking to CNN, was Billie Jean King who has been the pioneer and leader from Women’s tennis for many decades.
The American said that she spoke to Roger Federer about why the idea has broke out now, “I did have a chance to talk with Roger and he said the reason he even thought about this is because he finally had some space and time to reflect and think about the sport,” King said.
“We have to stay together as a sport. The WTA would not be an acquisition. We’d be a full partner in this drive to make our sport better and more valuable.
“We are much stronger, as Andy said, if we’re together. We’re not competing within our sport like a lot of tennis people think. Our job is to be together so we can compete against other entertainment and sports.”
While tennis takes a hiatus on the court, the off-court political discussions will continue as tennis looks to be a more unified sport post-Coronavirus.
