Sky Sports has announced a landmark double agreement that includes the tennis media rights for both the ATP and WTA Tours.
Putting pen to paper with ATP Media, the broadcast arm of the ATP, and WTA Ventures, the commercial arm of the WTA, Sky will be able to broadcast more than 80 tournaments and 4,000 matches on Sky Sports, NOW and WOW.
Stephen van Rooyen, CEO Sky UK&I and Group CCO, said: “This is a fantastic time to see the ATP and WTA Tours on Sky Sports across our markets, as tennis enters a new era with fresh and exciting talent making their way to the top of the sport.
“We are committed to bringing the two Tours together to elevate both male and female stars, and deliver world-class coverage of the 80 events across 48 weeks of the year; creating a brand-new home for tennis fans.”
Fans will have year-round access to both Tours which will be exclusively shown by Sky in the UK and Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as non-exclusively in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and South Tyrol.
Bringing together stars from across the world of tennis, the Tours will host players like Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic, alongside Rafael Nadal, Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and the returning Naomi Osaka, competing in events hosted in iconic locations like Miami, Madrid and Rome.
A new Sky Sports channel is expected to launch in 2024 which will be dedicated to delivering the live action directly to fans.
Coverage will be led by presenter Gigi Salmon, as well as Tim Henman and Laura Robson who will leverage their expertise to provide insightful commentary across the two Tours.
Mark Webster, CEO of ATP Media, commented: “We are extremely excited by the commitment we are seeing from Sky to both men’s and women’s tennis. ATP Media prides itself on producing and delivering the huge amount of world class content generated on the ATP Tour and the three Sky entities have shown themselves to be the perfect partners to provide this content to our many tennis fans.
“We share many of the same values, striving for innovation and excellence, and we hope this is just the start of an amazing new chapter for tennis in these Sky markets.”
Fans can also gain access to additional coverage from the competitions through Sky Sports News and the Sky Sports app, as well as Sky’s social channels.
Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, added: “This partnership is brilliant news for tennis fans who can look forward to more exciting action from the Hologic WTA Tour in 2024 and beyond with a strengthened calendar which will elevate the sport even further.
“Sky Sports are renowned for championing world-class sport, and we know that they will create a fantastic new platform to showcase our outstanding WTA and ATP athletes in one place. The future is bright for women’s sport and there is much more growth to come.”
