Tennis faced with fear of emptiness and the threat of a white season

Faced with the unprecedented health crisis of the Covid-19, the world of tennis is swimming in full fog and is not yet able to advance a recovery schedule. "We have 50 different versions to plan the rest of the season," ATP circuit boss Andrea Gaudenzi told Italian press. If some players cannot travel in the coming months, it is indeed difficult to envisage a return to the courts. However, there is urgency for players without fixed salary, classified beyond the top 100. There is urgency also for the other actors of the circuit (coaches, referees, stringers…). Urgency also for the providers of the tennis world and the deferred tournaments, deprived of revenue. Replaying, even a little, so that money is reinvested in the social economy of this sport, will be the stake of the second part of 2020, knowing that a recovery in the middle of the summer seems more and more compromised…

“Some federations may be in danger. For example those from Canada or Italy which do not have the financial health of the French or American federations ”

For the short term, the Grand Slam, ATP, WTA and ITF (the international federation) bodies have notably confirmed the creation of a $ 6 million support fund for the most competitive players. financial difficulty. In the medium to long term, the repercussions could be devastating. Lionel Maltese, lecturer at Aix-Marseille University, specializing in the economics of sport and very involved in the tennis world, deciphers: “The year 2021 is likely to be very complicated. Some federations may be in danger. For example those of Canada or Italy which do not have the financial health of the French or American federations. If the Masters 1000 in Rome, the main resource of Italian tennis, is not played in 2020, it would be dangerous for him. "

Lionel Maltese, who is one of the organizers of the Marseille Open 13 and the Lyon Open Park, two 250 tournaments organized in France, recalls: “TV rights are the fourth financial resource of a tournament like that of Marseille . Much more than ticketing, the economy of the 250 or 500 events is based on the offer intended for partners to organize their public relations on the tournament. However, spaces of hospitality are condemned by the social distancing imposed by this crisis. Difficult in this context, to organize a tournament, especially since the tennis public is quite old and therefore at risk against the Covid-19. So, with Jean-François Caujolle (the director) we are already thinking about a closed-door tournament for the 2021 edition. ”The concern is all the greater as the sponsors could run out in the coming months due of the coming economic crisis, and some tournaments could even be wiped off the map…

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For the Masters 1000 and especially for the Grand Slams, the situation is different, since half of their turnover comes from TV rights and television advertising through the display of brands on the courts. “TV rights give 35% of revenue for Roland-Garros. At the US Open we are over 40% ”. With its prize money of 50 million euros, the US Open could thus play behind closed doors. Just like Roland-Garros, offbeat in the fall. "We don't make a lot of room in camera," says Maltèse. You have to pay the players (42M € prize money for Roland-Garros), but there are also at their service, the hotel, catering, transport, security… In camera or not, all this represents 35% from the budget. But so does the health of tennis. The holding of the Grand Slams remains the priority in relation to the social and economic impact for this sport. "

Although the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu said Thursday on RMC that "Roland-Garros (scheduled from September 20 or 27) and the Tour de France (departure on August 29) will only be held if there is authorization to have the public ”, behind closed doors for major events, at least, could limit the damage and breathe new life into an activity in neutral. To the point of becoming the norm at the end of 2020 and even in 2021, as long as the Covid-19 epidemic is not overcome?

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