The ATP's plan for the future of tennis A letter from Andrea Gaudenzi has outlined several changes that could reshape the tour from 2028

More resources for players, a different weighting of ranking results and a restructured calendar: in two years' time, in 2028, men's tennis could change several aspects of how it distributes opportunities, incentives and rewards. In an open letter published on the ATP website last Thursday, chairman Andrea Gaudenzi presented proposals for the next phase of OneVision, the global strategic plan launched by the ATP in 2022. While the programme has introduced profit-sharing for players at Masters 1000 tournaments in recent years, it now aims to align the interests of players and organisers, helping to increase both the commercial value of ATP events and the resources available to athletes.

More specifically, the idea is to concentrate points and rewards around the biggest events, where public interest is strongest, while distributing the benefits of growth among a wider group of professionals. At the same time, the system should reduce the pressure to play “too much”, making a balanced season schedule more rewarding. The measures still need to be approved: over the coming weeks, they will be discussed with the councils representing players and tournaments before being considered by the ATP's governing bodies during next month's meetings in Turin.

What the reform would change

From an economic perspective, the goal is to increase total player compensation - including prize money, tournament profit-sharing and direct ATP support - to $350 million per year, excluding the Grand Slams. The Bonus Pool, which distributes additional rewards to the tour's leading players, would rise from $21.5 million to $50 million, while a further $25 million would fund a year-end ranking bonus for those who finish the season inside the top 250. Around $30 million per year would also be allocated to the players' pension scheme.

The criteria for distributing the Bonus Pool could also be revised. At every mandatory Masters 1000 event - tournaments that directly accepted players are required to enter unless exempt - the top 30 players in attendance would receive a share based on their position in the rankings at the time of the tournament: the higher their ranking, the larger the payment.

The reform would also affect how the rankings are calculated, giving greater weight to results at major tournaments and rewarding players more heavily for reaching semi-finals and finals. It would also remove the current option to replace up to three Masters 1000 results in a player's ranking breakdown with better results achieved at ATP 500 or ATP 250 events. For example, a player who loses early at the Italian Open in Rome can currently offset that performance by counting a better result from a subsequent lower-level tournament. If the reform were approved, the Rome result would always count, and points earned elsewhere could no longer replace it. The aim is to reduce the incentive to enter additional tournaments to make up for a disappointing result. The proposal to limit the number of ATP 250 results that leading players can count towards their ranking follows the same principle of reducing player overload.

As for the calendar, Gaudenzi's proposed approach would create a clearer separation between ATP 500 and ATP 250 weeks, which can currently take place at the same time. During a week dedicated to ATP 500 events, for example, players would choose between tournaments in the same category rather than events at different levels, with the aim of reducing competition between ATP 500 and ATP 250 tournaments for the same players. Changes to formats and draw sizes are also being considered for doubles, although little is currently known about how they might work.

The future of the ATP

Taken together, these proposals aim to align how players manage their seasons with the incentives offered by the tour. Gaudenzi summarises the principle as “incentive, not obligation” - players would retain the freedom to choose where they compete, while points and rewards would encourage them to build their schedules around the most important events. For fans, this should mean more opportunities to watch the best players face one another and a calendar that is easier to understand.

The project continues the path established by OneVision, which has helped increase player compensation to just under $270 million in 2025 and introduced profit-sharing at Masters 1000 events. Strengthening these tournaments also involves investment in facilities, including the transformation of the Cincinnati site, the relocation of the Paris tournament to La Défense Arena and upgrades to the facilities in Rome. This expansion also includes the introduction of a tenth Masters 1000 event in Saudi Arabia, announced in 2025 alongside SURJ Sports Investment, a company owned by the PIF, and scheduled to debut in 2028.

Gaudenzi has also called for greater coordination between tennis organisations. “We are still too fragmented, too slow”, he told the Financial Times in July, explaining his ambition to combine the commercial packages of the ATP, WTA and Grand Slams, which are currently managed separately. In his view, a joint offering of broadcasting rights and sponsorships could increase the value of the product and make the relationship between these organisations more profitable.

More broadly, the ultimate goal of all these processes is to strengthen tennis's ability to attract an increasingly large audience over the long term. As Gaudenzi writes in his letter, the ambition is to “ensure that tennis wins the battle for the next generation of fans”. The proposals for 2028 represent a new starting point.