Stan Wawrinka issues dire warning against Premium Tour proposal
Stan Wawrinka has warned against what he suggested was an attempted power grab by the Grand Slams.
Wimbledon has joined the other Grand Slams in showing support for a proposed Premium Tour, which would see elite players fight for equal prize money in a streamlined season.
Wawrinka labelled the proposal crazy in a recent interview with French Sports newspaper L’Equipe.
He accused the big four tournaments of serving their own interests and warned that the move would destroy the professional tours.
“Their proposals are to have even more power, to make the ATP and the WTA disappear, to keep the Masters 1000, and to kill the 500 and the 250,” Stan Wawrinka told L’Equipe.
“But why does no one say: ‘You are crazy?’ Nothing in this project is good for anyone except them.”
The Telegraph reported that Debbie Jevans, the newly appointed head of the All England Club, supported the proposed 16-event schedule.
That tally of 16 includes the four Grand Slams, 10 Masters 1000 events lasting 10 days each, a team competition and a unified season-ending championships.
The Masters tournaments would consist of Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, a grass-court tournament, Canada (split across Toronto and Montreal), Cincinnati and Beijing.
Wawrinka is convinced that this is purely a money move from the Grand Slams.
“The Grand Slams have zero transparency on their accounts,” Wawrinka said.
“They do not work for the vision of the future of tennis, have no desire to work in the direction of the players and the youngest, to cut part of their cake.”
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Under the proposal, The 500 and 250 level tournaments of both the ATP and WTA Tours would be downgraded to a Contender Tour.
ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi has publicly expressed his reluctance to see the 500 and 250 tournaments relegate to what would be a lower-level tour.
The WTA’s Steve Simon wouldn’t comment on the proposal until furnished with more information.
Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has heralded the plan as a possible solution to multiple problems for tennis. Among them a crammed schedule, and a big pay disparity between men and women.
“All the stakeholders in tennis have been working on a solution for the game. And it’s a journey to get to that point,” Tiley told The Telegraph.
“The Slams are united in their resolve, but it’s a complex problem to solve. If it wasn’t complicated, it would have been solved already. These ideas aren’t new, but what may be new is the motivation to give it a go, and see if there’s that opportunity.”
