{"id":426106,"date":"2026-01-22T15:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/426106\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T15:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:31:08","slug":"tennis-at-risk-of-civil-war-as-liv-golf-style-plan-threatens-to-change-sport-forever-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/426106\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis at risk of civil war as &#8216;LIV Golf-style plan&#8217; threatens to change sport forever | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis is reportedly at risk of a civil war with a LIV Golf-style split having been proposed by the Professional Tennis Players\u2019 Association (PTPA). The maverick body co-founded by Novak Djokovic is plotting a revolutionary change to proceedings, with a rise in prize money and blanket equality across the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s reported by the <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/tennis\/2026\/01\/22\/proposal-liv-pinnacle-tour-shake-up-tennis-establishment\/\" target=\"_blank\">Telegraph<\/a> &#8211; who claim to have seen a leaked document &#8211; that the PTPA is planning to introduce a three-tier system, with the highest division called the \u2018Pinnacle Tour\u2019. Also included in the suggestions are a rise by 50 per cent in the prize money within the first year, with equal pay for men and women by year three.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, the top 100 players are guaranteed $1m (\u00a3745,000) in year one, while the two tours would be unified under the governance of one parent company. It represents a major threat to the current set-up at both the WTA and ATP Tours.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an idea that isn\u2019t too dissimilar to the \u2018Premium Tour\u2019 concept put forward by Tennis Australia in 2024, but the big difference at this stage is that the PTPA have reportedly sought \u2018expressions of interest\u2019 from potential investors. If investment is secured, it could represent the first step towards forming a breakaway tour.<\/p>\n<p>This, of course, has already happened with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, which split from the PGA Tour in 2021. Meanwhile, the European Super League has been plotting something similar in professional football for some time now as well.<\/p>\n<p>The proposals from the PTPA is believed to have the support &#8211; at least in part &#8211; of Tennis Australia. However, this has caused a reported rift at the top of tennis\u2019 food chain, with officials from the French Tennis Federation and All England Club said to be seething.<\/p>\n<p>The FTF cancelled a planned trip to the ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/australian-open\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australian Open<\/a> in protest of the decision, with suggestions the All England Club were close to following suit. The PTPA believe there are \u201cdeep structural issues and a suppressive governance model\u201d, that has caused a \u201cconfusing and inaccessible calendar for fans\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennis is reportedly at risk of a civil war with a LIV Golf-style split having been proposed by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[22932,49,48,6674,178043,2083,178042,82,593,178044],"class_list":["post-426106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-atp-tour","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-liv-golf","tag-liv-golf-style-split","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-professional-tennis-playersu2019-association","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-governance-changes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}