SYDNEY —The ATP Cup will kick off the 2020 ATP Tour season with broadcast coverage secured in more than 180 territories worldwide, the ATP announced on Thursday.
The new 24-country team event will launch the 2020 season with the group stages played simultaneously across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney from 3 January, before the Final Eight knock-out stages take place in Sydney from 9-12 January.
Ross Hutchins, ATP Cup Managing Director, said: “Our intention has been to kick off the season with a major global event and the ATP Cup is set to provide exactly that, with a fantastic player field across our three venues. We’re delighted with the broadcast agreements in place that will ensure that fans all over the world will be able to tune into the action to follow the start of the season as the players go head-to-head for their countries in a bid to win the inaugural ATP Cup.”
The host broadcast of the ATP Cup will be produced by Tennis Australia, with domestic rights held by Channel Nine in Australia, while the international broadcast sales and distribution are handled by ATP Media, the broadcast arm of the ATP Tour.
“Through the ATP Cup broadcast we want to take the tennis fan right into the heart of true ethos of this event,” Tennis Australia Chief Operating Officer and ATP Cup Tournament Director Tom Larner said.
“It’s all about the teams, the passion and the camaraderie of these players and we want to show how much it means to them and how amazing these athletes are. The ATP Cup will offer something very unique in the world of tennis. There’s never been a 10-day tennis tournament held across three different cities simultaneously before, and we’re excited to bring this new event to the world through a contemporised broadcast that appeals to, and attracts, new audiences to tennis.”
The world’s leading broadcasters have committed to the event, with live coverage being shown via free-to-air TV, pay TV, online and via OTT products depending on the territory, demonstrating the wide interest in the ATP Cup and reflecting the variety of platforms on which sport is viewed.
The likes of ESPN (Latin America), Eurosport (Scandinavia), Tennis Channel (United States), TSN (Canada), BeIN (France and MENA), TV Asahi (Japan), Sky Deutschland (Germany), and Servus TV (Austria) are among the broadcasters to have secured the rights to the $US15 million prize money event.
Stuart Watts, Chief Operating Officer, ATP Media, said: “The inaugural ATP Cup has attracted worldwide interest from broadcasters and we’re pleased to have reached agreements in more than 180 territories that will ensure that the event gets a worldwide visibility that will be unprecedented in week one of the calendar.”
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About the ATP Cup
The ATP Cup is an annual 24-country team competition featuring US$15 million prize money and a maximum of 750 singles and 250 doubles FedEx ATP Rankings points. This ATP event is being staged in coordination with Tennis Australia. The ATP Cup will begin the ATP Tour each season and in 2020 will run 3-12 January. The tournament will be played over six days in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. Eight teams will then advance to the Final Eight four-day knockout stage in Sydney.
About the ATP
The ATP is the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. With 64 tournaments in 30 countries, the ATP Tour showcases the finest male athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the 2020 ATP Tour will battle for prestigious titles and FedEx ATP Rankings points at ATP Masters 1000, 500 and 250 events, as well as Grand Slams (non-ATP events). The 2020 season will launch in January with the inaugural ATP Cup in Australia, and will culminate with only the world’s top 8 qualified singles players and doubles teams competing for the last title of the season at the Nitto ATP Finals in November. Held at The O2 in London, the event will officially crown the 2020 ATP World No. 1. For more information, please visit www.ATPTour.com.
About Tennis Australia
Tennis Australia is the governing body of tennis in Australia, promoting and facilitating participation in tennis at all levels. TA also conducts national and international tournaments including the Australian Open. Tennis Australia produces the host broadcast for the ATP Cup and the Australian Open, as well as other national and international tennis events. For more information please visit tennis.com.au.
About ATP Media
As the broadcast arm of the ATP Tour, ATP Media was formed in 2001 as Tennis Properties Limited; providing the centralised exploitation across the ATP Tour, host broadcast production for the Nitto ATP Finals, Next Gen ATP Finals, ATP Masters 1000s and world feed production for the ATP 500s and certain ATP 250s, as well as the international distribution of the ATP Cup. ATP Media has unrivalled access and expertise in the full-service broadcast production of men’s professional tennis with an end to end solution for global broadcasters incorporating: rights sales, multi-platform production, a global fibre distribution network and a market leading digital archive. For more information, please visit www.atpmedia.tv.
