No Progress At ATP In Hiring A New Chief

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 16th August 2013

No Progress At ATP In Hiring A New Chief |

The ATP World Tour was hoping to announce a new executive chairman and president in succession to the late Brad Drewett at Wimbledon. Now it appears no appointment is imminent at the upcoming US Open after global search firm Heidrick and Struggles have been appointed as headhunters for potential candidates.

So it appears that Mark Young, chief executive of the ATP’s Americas division and the tour’s long-term chief legal officer, will not be getting the job as expected after fellow leading internal candidate Laurent Delanney (CEO Europe and Commercial Director) deferred.

In a statement issued to all players and tournaments, the ATP World Tour revealed: “No appointment will be made before the start of or during the US Open. In the meantime the ATP, with its highly capable and very experienced management team, will continue to operate efficiently and successfully.”

Houston-based Thomas Ho, a former top-100 player who competed nine years on the men’s tour and rose as high as world no.85 in June 1995, has been appointed to lead the search for Heidrick and Struggles.

The slowness in making an appointment would appear to be yet another impasse between the six members of the ATP World Tour’s board of directors – three player representatives and three who are mandated to work on behalf of the tournaments.

Meanwhile the players are being patient whilst being slightly bemused. World no.1 Novak Djokovic told the USA Today newspaper: “Obviously we had a big tragedy with Brad and caught all of us in ATP a little bit unprepared.

“Of course, we are still in the process of finding a CEO, and as serious and as global as this sport is, I think we need to kind of move on and I think to find the CEO as fast as possible, because it’s very important for the progress of our sport.”

Top ranked American player John Isner believes it is important to find exactly the right man for the job and insists the ATP is in such a strong position that there is time to conduct a thorough search.

With regard to the appointment of a firm of headhunters, Isner said: “A lot of positives can come out of it. I don’t know specifically, but I think it’s something that’s needed.”