Five-year deal begins in 2024
Sky Sports has agreed a five-year deal with the ATP and WTA for the UK & Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from 2024.
The agreement includes the ATP Finals and WTA Finals, all ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 events, 500s and 250 events (excluding domestic events) and the Next Gen ATP Finals. In addition to the exclusive rights in the territories above, Sky also has non-exclusive rights in non-exclusive rights in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and South Tyrol.
Coverage will be led by presenter Gigi Salmon, alongside analysis from former players Tim Henman and Laura Robson. Jonathan Overend will provide match commentary, and the team will also be joined by additional talent and co-commentators at various events across the season. It will be shown on the broadcaster’s linear channels and NOW in the UK.
The ATP and WTA agreement comes less than a year after the US Open returned to Sky for the first time since 2015, and after reports linking the broadcaster to the rights since Prime Video decided to not renew its previous deal. Prime Video had previously aired both the US Open and the ATP and WTA Tours, but will now have no live tennis coverage. Wimbledon continues to be on the BBC, and the other two grand slams, Roland-Garros and the Australian Open, are shown by Eurosport.
Sky Sports had previously shown the ATP until Prime Video took over in 2019, while the WTA had been broadcast by BT Sport during that time.
Stephen van Rooyen, CEO of Sky UK & Ireland 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.”
Mark Webster, CEO of ATP Media, added: “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.”
Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, said: “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.”
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