Tennis keeps leading the way for equality as Federer and Nadal calling for ATP-WTA merger

Tennis keeps leading the way for sport equality with ATP-WTA merger plan championed by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, that Serena hinted might be announced

Tennis has always been ahead of other sports in terms of women’s parity, and Roger Federer’s call for a joint merger, is another example that tennis remains a shining example of equality for all other sports.

Roger Federer started a debate in the Twitterverse about the Association Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) uniting under one body. Federer is a carefully managed sports icon and doesn’t just throw out such comments lightly. But he brings up an excellent point and support from Federer carries a lot of weight in a sport that’s grown in influence and stature thanks to him, but also Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and  of course Serena Williams.

In my opinion tennis has always set the standard in terms of parity between men and women. If you look at golf, for example, there’s no comparison in terms of prize money, tournament support, and cooperation between both tours. But with sports on hold in the self-isolating time of COVID-19, stakeholders in the game are thinking how the sport can emerge from this time stronger, and set an even greater example, a dream that Billie Jean King had hoped for many decades ago.

Federer, the great influencer and one who always seems to be on-point, received overwhelming support from the time he started tweeting about this plan. He is on the ATP council—alongside Nadal and ATP President, Djokovic—his support was quickly championed by Rafa.

The level of rapport, respect, and admiration for each other doesn’t surprise their fans anymore, but is a continuous testament of their shared passion for the sport that keeps elating fans worldwide. Clearly there are talks going on behind closed doors, but I’ve never seen the two biggest titans of a sport share such a commitment and express the kind of enthralling camaraderie that they have for each other (also evident in their extremely popular Instagram chat, which went live to 45 million viewers).

Chris Evert liked the idea and chatted with three-time slam champion Stan Wawrinka about it as well.

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Serena Williams perhaps gave the biggest indication of how serious this is with a tweet that has since been deleted.

ESPN’s Peter Bodo wrote that the merger might lose some of its thunder by the time the season is back on track. Tennis is probably one of the hardest hit sports due to the international travel commitments. Emerging from the hiatus with a united body of tennis players could be just the morale boost the sport will need to rebuild from.

A merged body will allow help coordinate efforts for getting funding to the lower-ranked players, who are feeling the pinch the most during the hiatus. A unified body will also hopefully get rid of the confusion over the conflicting ranking systems and points, different tournament categorization, the WTA web site (which I’ve cursed many times), as well as helping to promote both the women’s game and men’s game with more quantifiable support from each other.

Tennis has always led the way in terms of parity. Before Federer and Nadal came along, you could argue that the women’s game was more captivating and at times, it has eclipsed the men’s side. What other sport can claim that?

Tennis remains a beacon among sports for its support and championing of the both sexes in the game. Bringing them together is just a formality at this point and the sport will likely have a new unified approach once it resumes (hopefully) this summer. There will be a lot to celebrate.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.