Broadcasters Sky and CANAL+ have announced new agreements with the Hologic WTA Tour, which will bring fans closer to the tennis action than ever before.
Sky announced a five-year agreement with both the WTA and ATP Tours, promising to broadcast more than 80 tournaments and over 4,000 matches each year starting in 2024. This extensive coverage will be available in the UK & Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, including the WTA Finals, all 1000s, 500s and 250 events, and the Nitto ATP Finals and Next Gen ATP Finals presented by Neom.
In addition, the CANAL+ Group secured the exclusive broadcast of the Hologic WTA Tour in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, starting from January 2024 for five seasons. This includes the WTA 1000s, 500s, various 250s and the WTA Finals. The deal will showcase prominent Czech and Slovak players like Marketa Vondrousova, Petra Kvitova and Karolína Pliskova.
Sky’s coverage will be available on Sky Sports, NOW and WOW, with in-depth analysis and insights provided by Gigi Salmon, Tim Henman, Laura Robson and Jonathan Overend. Fans can look forward to year-round tennis action featuring top players like World No. 1s Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic, alongside stars such as Rafael Nadal, Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner and Naomi Osaka.
Said Stephen van Rooyen, Executive Vice President & CEO, Sky UK & Europe: “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."
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.”
Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, echoed the enthusiasm: “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.”
Ladislav Řeháček, VP of CANAL+ Luxembourg for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, emphasized the growing popularity of tennis in these regions and the success of Czech players.
"We were very interested in the rights to the WTA, for several reasons," Řeháček said. One is the popularity of tennis in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in general, another is the incredible success of Czech players in recent years. In addition, tournaments are played practically all year round and are watched by a high percentage of viewers, among whom there is much higher proportion of women compared to most other sports.
Storti praised the new agreement with CANAL+, recognizing its significance in promoting women's sports.
“With outstanding players competing at the top of our sport year after year, including so many from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we have no doubt CANAL+ viewers are in for exhilarating seasons of action from the Hologic WTA Tour,” Storti said. “We’re excited to have this new agreement with CANAL+ for the next five seasons as they expand their footprint in tennis and commitment to the visibility of women’s sports.”
