10 minute read
INTERVIEW WITH: Massimo Calvelli, CEO of ATP
ATP: SERVING BEYOND SPORT
Massimo Calvelli, CEO of ATP highlights how the governing body of men's professional tennis is inspiring others beyond the court to ensure it makes a lasting and meaningful impact on communities around the world. The aim for ATP, through its ATP Serves initiative, is to be a leading example of diversity and inclusivity in international sport, protect and enhance the mental health of its community, and minimise the sport's impact with solutions to combat the climate crisis.
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What is the long-term vision of the ATP to find solutions to societal and environmental challenges?
Tennis is a global game, with a diverse community of a billion fans. Our community is rarely unaffected by societal and environmental challenges. We know that we cannot be distanced from addressing these challenges and must play an active role in finding solutions. Tennis has a rich history of making a difference, led by incredible trailblazers such as Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King, and we want to contribute to that.
As an organisation, we are here to inspire on court, and serve beyond it. Though ATP Serves, our recently launched programme of purposeled initiatives, we have chosen to focus our efforts in three areas: organisational culture, mental health, and environmental sustainability. These are the areas we feel are most authentic to who we are – and where we can make a meaningful impact. Our approach starts with leading by example, ensuring we as the ATP have our own house in order. It’s then about supporting our members, our players and tournaments, who are incredibly passionate about giving back. Lastly, it’s about using our global platform to advocate for change amongst our wider community of fans and partners.
We’re taking on big challenges and change won’t come overnight. Over time, and working together, our vision is for tennis to make a lasting positive impact in the world.
How has the field changed since you first started the ATP Serves initiative?
I would say the main change in the sports space over the last 18-24 months, particularly amongst rights holders, has been a shift in mindset towards purpose and social good. What was once a ‘nice to have’ has almost become a ‘license to operate’. The most successful and culturally influential professional sporting bodies all have a strong purpose at their core. A shared understanding has emerged that our role needs to extend beyond the game itself – our work is not finished at the final whistle or match point. This has been exciting to see.
Credit must go to a broad crosssection of stakeholders for driving this change in mindset, most notably our fans. Especially younger generations expect their favourite brands and athletes to step up and stand for something. It has certainly pushed us to re-evaluate our purpose and ask the difficult questions of ourselves. ➡ Images: ATP Tour
What strategic partnerships have you entered to help facilitate positive change?
We are proud to have launched several exciting initiatives across our three pillars. In the Mental Health space, we partnered with Sporting Chance, an organisation that offers expert oneon-one mental health counselling for elite athletes. We've also launched a partnership with Headspace, giving players, tournaments and staff access to meditation and mindfulness exercises.
On the Environmental Sustainability side, we were proud to become a signatory of UN Sports for Climate Action at the end of last season. This global initiative gives us access to a network of the brightest thinkers in the space and incredible resources. It also commits us to two global goals: a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, and Net Zero by 2040. To help us with those efforts, we've partnered with the Gold Standard, a world-leading carbon mitigation partner through which we are offsetting our unavoidable emissions. We've also been working closely with a team of expert sustainability consultants, based out of the UK, who are helping us build and deliver our global strategy and plan for the years ahead.
Under Organisational Culture, we introduced companywide DEI training
for all our staff. Last season we also teamed up with an organisation called Pride Sports, and Erik Denison, a researcher at Monash University, to launch the ATP's first-ever LGBT+ player survey. We will have more to stay on that shortly.
Finally, we’ve had tremendous buy-in from ATP’s commercial partners. Many have approached us to get involved and commit their expertise to supporting ATP Serves. This is crucial for the longterm success of the programme.
What can actively be done in terms of real change for equity and inclusivity in international sport and what does that look like for the ATP?
I think tennis is one of the leading examples of diversity and inclusion in professional sports. We are global, our players come from all over the world, and we have both a strong men's and women's game. I think that sets tennis apart from other sports. Despite these many positives, we cannot rest on our laurels. We must continue to work, to ensure that tennis is a welcoming community for all.
I would say the best way for us to make progress on this front is to continue taking an honest look at ourselves and asking the right questions. Are there parts of tennis culture that means our sport is not as inclusive as we’d like it to be? From there, it’s about assessing issues in a robust way, and being confident in taking active measures to address them. This was the approach we took with our LGBTQ+ player survey. The results from the survey were insightful and gave us a clear sense of where more work can be done.
Lastly, it’s about sharing information and collaborating across the tennis ecosystem. We need to ensure the great work being done impacts the breadth of the professional game. It must also percolate down to the junior levels, which is where the foundations of the sport’s culture are laid.
What initiatives has the ATP embarked on to promote positive mental health and development for all players and staff?
Tennis is an incredibly demanding sport. Our athletes face intense pressure on a day-to-day basis, and face this pressure as individuals, without the support of a team environment. In general, the conversations around Mental Health in tennis are moving in a positive direction. This is due to the courage of players, such as Robin Söderling, Mardy Fish and Naomi Osaka, who in speaking out have bravely led the way for other players to seek help.
We're proud to say that we've come a long way in the provision of Mental Health resources over the last 24 ➡
months. We launched a partnership with Sporting Chance, a leading organisation that provides expert one-on-one counselling for elite athletes. That's been an incredible partnership that has added a lot of value to our players. In addition, we launched a partnership with Headspace, which gives access to meditation and mindfulness training for our staff, players, and tournaments, wherever they are in the world.
During the pandemic, we also looked at our rules. We introduced changes to the ATP rankings that allowed players who didn't feel comfortable or safe travelling to tournaments to not play events, and not be penalised for that decision. This was done to protect the integrity of our rankings, but also to protect the mental health of our players during an incredibly stressful period.
Looking ahead, we think ATP can really be a leader in the Mental Health space. We recently conducted a fullscale review of our welfare provisions across the Tour, and we are looking to bring on additional resources to help us deliver on our ambitions.
Why is environmental sustainability crucial for the ATP?
Environmental sustainability is crucial for tennis because of the nature of our global game. Our events take place in more than 30 countries, the majority of the time outdoors, meaning we directly feel the effects of climate change. In the last ten years we've experienced disruption from floods, bushfires and heat waves to poor air quality and rain delays. This impacts the operation of our events and poses risks to the health of our athletes and fans.
At the same time, we know that we’re a contributor to this climate crisis. Our Tour is predicated on global travel and hosting of events, both of which consume resources. We have a role to play in finding solutions, and ways to operate more sustainably, if we want to continue doing what we do long into the future.
Beyond the practicalities of running a global tour, there is also the growing expectation from our fans, players, partners, and the localities in which we play, to take an active leadership role addressing these issues. It’s encouraging to see the groundswell of momentum that’s building.
How is the ATP developing its sustainability strategy?
We've taken a pragmatic approach to developing ATP’s sustainability strategy. One of the key challenges is that our organisation is global and decentralised. When you look at the tennis ecosystem, the proportion that is directly controlled by the ATP is fairly small. The majority of our impact comes from areas that we can influence, but do not directly control, for example the travel of our
fans and players. Our sustainability initiatives must be both scalable across the ATP Tour, but adaptable enough to be workable across different markets and different conditions.
Our first step was to bring on a team sustainability consultants based out of the UK. We worked with this team in previous years at the Nitto ATP Finals. They bring a wealth of experience from different sports and major events. Together we've developed a longterm sustainability strategy, which we have begun rolling out across the organisation. Becoming a member of UN Sports for Climate Action has also been vitally important. Not only has this commitment given us legitimacy of joining a major credible organisation, but it has also given us a north star by way of the two global emissions targets that it sets. Everyone in our ecosystem knows where we're headed, and I think that has already helped align thinking amongst our stakeholders.
Looking ahead, we plan to continue onboarding the right partners in the right spaces. We know that we cannot do this alone and need outside expertise to allow us to execute.
What role is the ATP playing in promoting more sustainable sports events?
One of the first things we developed with our sustainability consultants was a sustainability toolkit for all ATP Tour events. This introduces the fundamental principles, helps events create a robust action plan aligned with ATP’s global objectives, and provides guidance on data collection. This was designed to be practical and workable for all events, whether they are just starting out on their sustainability journey or are more advanced. We then held sustainability workshops and have been providing follow-up support to events on a oneon-one basis.
This has also been a two-way learning process for us. Many of our events have had their own sustainability policies in place and made impressive progress over the years. We see a lot of ambition and creativity coming from our tournaments. Sharing their vast knowledge and experience with others in our ecosystem is another important part of our role. ◆
In November 2021 ATP became a signatory of UN Sports for Climate Action committing to its global emissions targets:
50% reduction in emissions by 2030 Net Zero emissions by 2030
Learn more about ATP's sustainability strategy at www.serves.atptour.com
