More than 150 doubles players on the men’s ATP tour have signed an open letter addressed to the ATP board and management imploring the men’s tennis governing bodies to reconsider controversial doubles reforms and “protect” the format in professional tennis. The subject of potential reforms to the ATP has been a significant issue since players were informed in a meeting during Wimbledon that the ATP was conducting a review of its doubles regulations and potential changes could see doubles draws being halved at the ATP events in 2028. Under these proposals, ATP Masters 1000 events would host only 16 doubles teams and the main draws at ATP 500 and 250 events would accommodate only eight teams.
The proposals could also lead to the total prize money distributed to doubles players being halved from 20% to 10%, with the remaining money allocated towards singles players. The news provoked significant criticism from a large group of doubles players at Wimbledon, and they have spent subsequent months organising to resist the reforms. In addition to over 150 active players, the letter has been signed by more than 20 national federations and legends of the sport.
In the open letter, the players state: “The current plans would shift about $20m (£15m) in prize money from doubles to singles, while cutting a significant number of professional opportunities for doubles specialists. That shift would make it much harder for talented players to build and sustain a doubles career. A healthy professional sport cannot rely solely on a small group of top stars; it needs pathways for players to develop, compete and earn a living.” Sem Verbeek, the 2025 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion and one of the players spearheading the campaign, told the Guardian that the doubles players feel the ATP’s potential reforms threaten the future of doubles and that the ATP has not sought to collaborate with doubles players to shape the future of the discipline.
But any real data and real numbers and real requests that we have have not been answered so far. And I think that’s why a lot of active players are so frustrated with this because we have a lot of ideas.” The ATP management views doubles as an unsustainable loss leader, and it intends to redistribute some of the money currently reserved for doubles to singles players, an initiative doubles players believe pits singles and doubles players against each other despite the fact that they are all members of the same association. So we really just want to invite the ATP to really meaningful collaborations and meaningful discussions on how we can grow this part of the sport without damaging the future of it and allowing people to have a celebratory career in doubles.
And I think that’s part of the reason that so many legends have signed on. And that to us is ludicrous. It’s a discipline that has provided a lot of history and should provide a lot of future and it shouldn’t be looked at as, let’s say, a failed singles career or something like that.” This month, the ATP announced widespread reforms to the calendar, schedule and rule book.
In a Q&A attributed to the ATP chief executive, Andrea Gaudenzi, on the ATP website, the men’s tennis governing body addressed its potential doubles reforms.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
