Who is Andrea Gaudenzi? Former pro turned ATP Tour chairman
Andrea Gaudenzi has become one of the most important and powerful figures in tennis, with the chairman of the ATP Tour holding major influence in the sport.
A former player himself, the Italian is now at the forefront of the game as an official and is at the centre of the sport at a time when the game faces a growing number of challenges.
Here, we look at Gaudenzi’s career so far and the challenges he faces at the top of the ATP pecking order.
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Playing career
Born in Faenza in July 1973, Gaudenzi started playing tennis aged three and would become a standout junior in his late teens.
The Italian won two junior Grand Slam titles in 1990, beating Thomas Enqvist in the French Open boys’ singles final before victory over Mikael Tillstrom at the US Open later that year.
Gaudenzi would then move into the senior game, reaching a career-high ranking of world No 18 in February 1995.
He lifted his first ATP Tour title at the Grand Prix Hassan II in 1998 and would then triumph in both St. Poelten and Bastad in 2001, reaching a further six tour-level finals during his career.
Gaudenzi’s best Grand Slam run came at the French Open in 1994, reaching the fourth round, and he would retire from the sport in 2003.
Post-tennis career
After his retirement in 2003, Gaudenzi initially moved away from tennis.
The 52-year-old was Chief Revenue Officer at Musixmatch, an Italian music data company allowing users to search and share song lyrics.
Later, he was the co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Soldo in London, a financial management company.
However, he would later switch his focus back to tennis.
ATP Chairman
Having played a key role serving on the board of ATP Media, the tour’s broadcast arm, Gaudenzi was confirmed as the ATP Tour’s new chairman in October 2019 — officially replacing Chris Kermode in January 2020.
The Italian was then elected for a second term in June 2023, and has become one of the most powerful and most important figures in the sport.
Gaudenzi’s tenure as ATP Tour chairman has not been straightforward amid a tennis political climate within the sport; most recently, he and the ATP were put under scrutiny for their decision to officially award a Masters 1000 event to Saudi Arabia.
His tenure has also seen tennis become somewhat of a sporting outlier by allowing Russian athletes to compete following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, with many sports banning Russian competitors.
Perhaps most pertinently, Gaudenzi’s tenure has come amid a period of growing player unrest, with the Professional Tennis Players Association — co-founded by Novak Djokovic — launched in August 2020.
The PTPA officially announced that it was suing the ATP, alongside the WTA, ITF, and ITIA, in March 2025, with no sign of any resolution to the case as of yet.
Past months have seen growing concerns raised by players about the extended tennis calendar and discontentment with the revenue percentage received from the four Grand Slam tournaments.
It is a crucial juncture within modern tennis history, and Gaudenzi’s role as the head of the men’s game is likely to receive more and more attention within the coming months.
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