Tennis: Bautista Agut beats Safiullin in Barcelona
he Spaniard, who is chasing his 12th ATP Tour crown this week, will meet seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
Tennis legend Boris Becker has backed Roger Federer’s suggestion of merging the men’s and women’s Tennis governing body, ATP and WTA, amid the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which has stopped all forms of Tennis across the globe.
About Federer’s idea, which was supported by Rafael Nadal as well, Becker said, “Roger Federer started the ball rolling with his splendid idea of joining forces and I think Nadal agrees. Not every top guy agrees that’s fine, but I think Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have a strong following. For Federer to suggest that, speaks for his intelligence and also that he truly cares about the game.”
“Just think of the equal prize money we have in the majors. You know men and women earn the same which I don’t think is happening in every sport. We are always progressive about going with the times, with equal rights, certainly on the tennis court,” the six-time Grand Slam winner said in an interview to Laureas.com.
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Federer had earlier put forth the idea of merging ATP and WTA in a series of tweets. He said, “I am not talking about merging competition on the court, but merging the two governing bodies (ATP and WTA) that oversee the men’s and women’s professional tours.
“It’s too confusing for the fans when there are different ranking systems, different logos, different websites, different tournament categories,” the most successful male Tennis player in the history of the sport added.
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