Announcing our First Live Show in London!

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Daniel Kiernan  00:09

Welcome to Episode 220, of Control the Controllables. And I'm bringing to you today, podcast short. And it's going to be short, it's going to be no longer than 10 minutes, I promise you and those that know me will say Dan Kiernan can't talk for less than 10 minutes. But I'm going to try and what I'm here to let you know about is the Big Tennis Shake Up. And is the new elite tennis tour good for tennis? Now you're sat down, you said, What's he talking about? What's the new elite tennis tour? What is that now? Is it happening? We don't know for sure. But what I can tell you is there is talks that are ongoing, this is real, you know. And if we go back to 2022, Wimbledon stopped the Russian and Belarusian tennis players from competing at their event. The consequence of that was the ATP and the WTA felt they had no choice but to withdraw the points that were available for that event. And in doing so created some friction, there's always been friction, we have the seven different entities within our sport, the four different Grand Slams, the ATP, the WTA, and the ITF. And they haven't worked together to be in a big mystery for years, how we can't get tennis together. But what that did at that time, is that irritated the Grand Slams, because they are the commercial power within our sport. They are the ones that bring in the biggest TV rights, the ones that bring in the most ticket sales. I mean, I go back to us open people were paying $250 on Labor Day weekend for a ground pass, you know, and tennis is very much alive at these big events. So they have spent the last couple of years aligning themselves. Are they fully aligned, we don't know. But they're trying to align themselves. And the talk is that they're looking to bring this elite tour together. The four grand slams 13 big events, but it will be run by the Grand Slams. They then want the ATP and WTA to go into line with them on that rather than the other way around. Now there's lots of conflicts of interest. There's lots of challenges along the way. And there's lots of different arguments to this, you know, we're still waiting to find out the exact ins and outs. But it is now becoming quite common knowledge in the tennis world that this has some momentum the conversations are happening I spoke to Eric Butorac the other day from the US Open to mark Pesci, you know, the incredible tennis commentator, you know, everyone's got their opinions, everyone's got their positions, and something is gonna give. And the one thing that Eric said to me that I want to share is disruption is going to happen within the sport that's that's happening. And what they want to try and control is doing that internally, rather than externally, which we saw famously happen a couple of years with LIV Golf, as the PIF came in, and took over and completely disrupted golf forever. And that hasn't gone down so well. And they wants to have more control to be able to do that, from an internal point of view. Now, I have my concerns, you know, we're already an exclusivity sport in lots of ways. It's not accessible to absolutely everybody, there's only a certain number of spots that are making the money. And it feels a little bit that maybe the rich are going to get richer from this, the poor are going to get poorer. And there is the concern, because the idea is to have 96 singles players that are on this tour, a bit like golf, you get your scorecard. And then that is it, you get your European card or you get your PGA card, and you are then in that to have for the year. Now, one of the beauties of tennis is obviously the ins and outs, the hope that people have that they can have this big run, and they can have a great two or three month period to be able to break through in the rankings. You know, is it going to stop that? You know, what do the top pros think you know, is are they being used to this bring in more commercial revenue for for the powers that be? Or is this something that they are going to see the benefit for? Are they thinking about themselves? Are they thinking about the greater good of tennis, and what are the plays just outside of the top 100 Think what are the doubles players thing where does doubles fit in? This new model. And what does that mean then for the players that are even levels below that those players that aren't playing Grand Slam qualifying event yet those that are just starting to take their first step on the run. There's many questions that are unanswered. But one thing is for sure these conversations are starting and what we are going to be doing on April the 19th. In London, we are going to be bringing a panel a team together to discuss this we've got John Morris, who was who is the agent of Andre Rublev of Elina Svitolina of Dasha Kasatkina, Borna Coric, you know, he's he was Nick Kyrgios' agent for many, many years. He's been heavily involved in these talks, he's going to be joining the panel, we've got the amazing Freddie Nielsen, that has been on the podcast, a Wimbledon champion, he's now a Davis Cup, captain, and he's obviously coming from the side of being a coach, who's now bringing players through into that system. Gabby Dabrowski, the US Open 2023, women's doubles champion, and also WTA board member, and she's going to be joining the panel, we are in discussions with a couple more people, but we want to bring this discussion to you. In a fun evening, there will be that a discussion that we want you to get involved in you to ask your direct questions to us, we have spots for 70 people only in person, what better way to spend a Friday night with us control the controllables in London, good conversation, we'll have some fun elements to the evening as well. And if you are interested, you will see in the show notes how to buy your tickets, but be fast, because 70 tickets won't go a long way. And then we will be opening up that opportunity if you're able to be there in person to then jump on a live stream. So you will then still have that direct line to myself to Vicki and our amazing panelists. And we want to hear your opinions. You know, these conversations we want to be had changes coming, whether we like it or we don't like it changes coming. And the more that our eyes are open to that the more that we take part in those conversations, the better prepared we will be. And if you're not interested in that subject, just come and see us anywhere because we'd love to have a laugh. We'd love to meet you to listen to you. And provide as we always have done here Control the Controllables and education, some entertainment for you, and also to energize you in whatever role and position you play within the sport. Were better when we're together. And we look forward to seeing you all April than it is in person or online. anyone's got any questions as ever reach out to us, but that's what I want you to pop on here today and let you know and we look forward to it. We're excited to be a little bit apprehensive so get behind us. Let's make this let's make this work and let's see what the future of tennis has for us. The big tennis shake up is the new elite to a good for tennis. Until next time. I'm Dan Kiernan and we are Control the Controllables