Sky has signed a new five year partnership agreement with ATP Media and WTA Ventures, creating a new home for tennis fans.
- Over 80 tournaments to be shown on Sky Sports and NOW in the UK and Ireland.
- Next year, Sky Sports will launch a “new home” for tennis all year around.
The ATP and WTP Tours will showcase the world’s top players such as World Number 1’s Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic, alongside Rafael Nadal, Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and the returning Naomi Osaka as well as the next generation of tennis stars including Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu, competing at all levels including at combined 1,000 events taking place in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome and Cincinnati, and both the Nitto ATP Finals and WTA Finals.
In total, over 80 tournaments made up of over 4,000 matches will be be screened on Sky Sports.
In 2024, Sky Sports will create a new home for tennis all year round, according to the announcement, heightening speculation that Sky Sports Tennis, briefly on air during the US Open will become a full-time service, as it is in other countries where Sky operates.
Sky’s deal with the ATP and WTP gives the broadcaster exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland. The agreement also covers exclusive rights in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Sky also has non-exclusive rights in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol, the German-speaking part of northern Italy.
In the UK, Sky’s move ends a brief stint where Amazon dominated tennis coverage. Prior to 2019, ATP and WTP tennis was split between Sky and BT.
Corporate comments
Stephen van Rooyen, CEO Sky UK & Ireland and Group CCO, commented:
“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, said:
“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.”
Meanwhile, 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.”
Update: sources indicate that Sky Sports Tennis will launch as a full time service during 2024.
Marc Thornham