The WTA is celebrating 50 years of existence, and Kim Clijsters (former world number one) believes that the time has come to merge the forums that lead the men’s (ATP) and women’s (WTA).

Kim Clijsters: “People think that ATP and WTA are one organization, but they are not”

Honorary president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF), Clijsters believes a single organization would make the sport stronger.

“Would I like to see an ATP/WTA merger? Yes, I think it would make the brand much stronger. Often people outside of tennis think it’s just one organization.

Do you know what I mean? That people who don’t know much about tennis say, “Oh yeah, the ATP and the WTA, but there’s unity behind it.” But it is far from that.

There are so many people behind the scenes who are all moving in the same direction and want to see this trend develop in women’s tennis.

As long as we all have that mindset, and it’s not just one person who can make a difference, but all together as a strong unit, a group, I think that’s the only way we can get to the place where the combined events have the same number of players – women and men – on center courts or in night matches.

There are pros and cons to everything, right? There was much, much, much, much talk about how to do this. And you always hit a wall where, you know, not much happens and we just talk. And, of course, I would like to have one organization,” she said. – Kim Clijsters.

Billie Jean King: “Men rejected us. When we are together, the tour is worth more money”

Billie Jean King, the legend of women’s tennis (12 Grand Slam titles) and the first president of the WTA, also asked for the merger of ATP and WTA in the past. It says the tournaments will make “a lot more money” when the merger takes place.

“We tried to unite in 1968 and 1970, but men rejected us. I’ve always felt that if we were together, we would have one voice, and I don’t just mean what we can do on the field, but what we can do for the world off the field.

Just from a commercial point of view, when you have men and women together, the tournament is worth a lot more money. I think we need to discuss this more often.

Men always say they’re so big in business, and yet they’re the ones who don’t want us to be together when we should be.” – Billie Jean King.