New ATP chief Massimo Calvelli will continue power shift to Italy
Italy’s status as the ATP Tour’s new centre of gravity will soon be underlined by the appointment of Massimo Calvelli as the organisation’s new chief executive, Telegraph Sport understands.
Calvelli has been in charge of Nike’s tennis marketing since 2014, which means that he has negotiated deals with superstars like Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. He is also a close friend of Andrea Gaudenzi, another London-based Italian who was appointed a month ago as the ATP’s new chairman.
Traditionally, the ATP have combined the roles of chairman and chief executive in one person – the most recent being Englishman Chris Kermode. But an influential faction on the ATP player council – which is chaired by Novak Djokovic – staged a rebellion against Kermode’s regime in the spring, and he will leave the post on Dec 31.
Calvelli is 45 and was born in Tuscany. He had a minor career as a singles player on the Challenger tour, reaching a high of No. 255 in the world in 1995. Since then, he has worked for racket manufacturers Wilson, and now for Nike, and is well regarded as a tough but ethical negotiator.
With the ATP’s two established properties – the ATP Finals and the Next Gen ATP Finals – being played in Turin and Milan respectively from 2021 onwards, it feels as though the departure of Kermode could mark a shift in the organisation from a largely Anglophone management culture, based primarily in the UK and the USA, to a more European model.
Meanwhile, the All England Club have also been interviewing candidates this week for a new Wimbledon chief executive to succeed Richard Lewis when he retires next year. The strong favourite is the internal candidate, Wimbledon’s operation’s director Sally Bolton, who was previously operations director at the Super League.
