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Andrea Gaudenzi expressed on the future of men's tennis, the new calendar, but also the fate of the Davis Cup. The CEO of the ATP spoke in the SuperTennis studios at Palazzo Wanny in Florence on the occasion of day-1. Also dwelling on the return of the tournament and on the memories of him.
He explained: "I played one of my first tournaments, in 1991. We also played in the Davis Cup with Diego Nargiso in 1993." Gaudenzi a few hours after Taylor Fritz entered the Top 10, the first American to get there since 2017, said: "When we were playing there were six, seven American Top 10.
For us it is ideal that there is balance, a mix of all continents. Obviously it is not something we control, but we are moving towards an interesting generational change. That said, he also highlighted the importance of collaboration with WTA and ITF."
ATP CEO reveals the future of tennis
Then he told: "We will need to get to form a unique tennis body, because we speak to the same audience.
It will not be easy but with the right energies it can be done. We must consider that we are in competition with other sports, but also with music, with Netflix and above all videogames." Without ruling out there may be changes or possibilities you can start playing more games at the best of five sets: "With the old format it took five weeks on the calendar, and not all top players committed to playing it.
This is why we have arrived at the new one. The ideal format is not easy to find, it will probably be a hybrid between the two formulas. With a format like the current one you can't play three out of five sets, but if you go back to playing more games at home and away you can think about it." Overall, however, he remains convinced that a broader reasoning about best-of-five sets matches is also needed, explaining, in reference to the Masters 1000 finals: "We are moving in the direction of aligning the rules, even the Grand Slams have come to introduce the same rule regarding the fifth set tiebreak. They are small but important steps in the right direction."