150 Doubles Players Tell ATP to Drop Plans to Halve Draws and Cut Prize Money

TL;DR: More than 150 doubles players and tennis legends signed an open letter published Monday urging the ATP to drop plans to halve doubles draws and cut the doubles share of prize money from 20 percent to 10 percent from 2028. The signatories include world No. 1 Henry Patten, Wimbledon champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, the Bryan brothers and 20 national federations, and the ATP board is due to vote on the proposals at next month’s ATP Finals in Turin.

This is not a grumble from one locker room. It is the doubles world signing its name to a single document, in public, weeks before the vote that decides its future. The letter does not ask for more money. It asks the ATP not to take away the draws and the prize share that make doubles a profession at all.

What does the letter actually say?

It says the cuts go too far, and it says so in the ATP’s own language. “Implementing changes of this scale without broad support risks undermining confidence in the ATP’s leadership across the wider tennis community,” the letter states, The Times reports. It continues: “Instead of drastic cuts, we urge the ATP to protect meaningful doubles draws and viable professional career opportunities. A healthy professional sport cannot rely solely on a small group of top stars.”

The closing lines are the ones that will be quoted back at the board. “Commercial success matters. Fairness, player welfare and the long-term health of tennis matter just as much,” the players write, TheBullPost reports. “Let us grow tennis together, without leaving doubles players behind.” The letter was published at 4 p.m. on Monday, The Times reports, which means the ATP board now has a public document, with public names, to answer before Turin.

Who signed it?

The biggest names in doubles, and the legends who built it. TheBullPost reports the letter was signed by 137 current players, 28 legends and 20 national federations. The Times lists seven Britons among the 137 active players: Patten, Cash, Lloyd Glasspool, Neal Skupski, David Stevenson, Marcus Willis and Luke Johnson. Britain’s doubles specialists have enjoyed great success in recent years, The Times notes, with four players in the top 20: Patten at world No. 1, Skupski at No. 3, and Cash and Glasspool tied at No. 13, all of them Grand Slam champions.

The legends carry a different kind of weight. Among them are Pat Cash, the Australian who won Wimbledon in 1987 and reached the doubles final in 1984 and 1985, the Bryan brothers Bob and Mike, and Todd Woodbridge, who won nine Wimbledon doubles titles between 1993 and 2004 as well as Olympic gold, The Times reports. When the greatest doubles pair of all time signs a letter about the future of doubles, it is not a nostalgia exercise. It is a warning from the people who know what the discipline is worth.

What is the ATP proposing?

Halved draws and a halved prize share. The Times reports the ATP presented the proposals in July: the prize purse at doubles events would fall from 20 percent of total prize money to 10 percent, with singles players the beneficiaries of the reallocated $20m. The proposal, which would come into effect in 2028, also intends to halve the size of the doubles draws. Masters 1000 events, for example, would shrink from 32 pairs to 16, and the Challenger level, a crucial rung for developing talent, would also be affected.

TheBullPost adds the detail for smaller events: tournaments below Masters level would fall to eight teams. That is the number that explains the anger. A 16-team Masters draw still has room for the best pairs in the world. An eight-team draw at a 250 event leaves almost no room for anyone outside the elite, and it removes the rung where the next generation of doubles players currently earns its living. The Times says the slashing of jobs is the primary focus of the open letter, and the numbers show why.

Why do the players say this kills doubles?

Because a profession needs more than a final. Dutch player Sem Verbeek, one of the architects of the letter, told BBC Sport: “We’re at risk of losing a discipline of tennis which is historic, but has a big future,” TheBullPost reports. “These proposals would destroy careers, livelihoods and dreams.” Julian Cash, the 2025 Wimbledon doubles champion, told The Times: “We are going to fight to protect the legacy and future of our sport, no matter what it takes.”

The players’ other argument is about the sport most people actually play. TheBullPost reports the doubles players argue the ATP should do more to promote their discipline and attract greater audiences, pointing out it is the format played by most club members and therefore more relatable. That is a different kind of case from the jobs argument, and it may be the stronger one with the public: doubles is the version of tennis that ordinary players recognise from their own weekends, and shrinking it to a showcase for a handful of pairs makes the professional game less like the game everyone else plays.

What is the ATP’s case?

It is a commercial case, built on data. TheBullPost reports the ATP says the proposals are based on data-led analysis centred on costs, revenue and viewership, and that it aims to create a more sustainable long-term model while maintaining the important role of doubles. The Times adds that the ATP has previously justified reviewing the singles and doubles landscape on commercial grounds, stating that fan engagement in doubles has fallen and that ticket sales and broadcast figures lean towards singles.

There is also a counter-argument inside the tour that the players do not accept. TheBullPost reports others within tennis believe reform is needed, suggesting a 20 percent share of prize money for doubles is disproportionate to the interest shown by fans. The players’ answer, in the letter, is that the tour should grow doubles rather than shrink it, and that the answer to low engagement is promotion, not cuts. That disagreement, promotion versus shrinkage, is what the Turin vote will settle.

Has this fight happened before?

Yes, and the same names were in it. TheBullPost reports that in 2005, the Bryan brothers led players in a lawsuit against the ATP when it planned radical changes to doubles. Mike Bryan said: “These proposed changes are anti-competitive. That is the stance we had to take in 2005. We still believe in doubles and we believe in the players fighting for this.” Bob Bryan added that the tour is in the healthiest financial state it has ever been, and in his opinion it should be creating more opportunities, not fewer.

The history matters because it shows this is not a new grievance. Doubles players have been fighting for their place in the professional structure for twenty years, and they have won before by going public and, when necessary, going to court. TheBullPost reports the Bryans said they would support the group considering legal action to protect their discipline. That line, buried in the middle of the coverage, is the one the ATP board will read most carefully.

What happens next?

Turin, and a negotiation that has not yet produced a compromise. TheBullPost reports the tour’s board, made up of chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, four tournament representatives and four player representatives, will vote on the plans at next month’s ATP Finals in Turin. The Times adds that the ATP is due to make crunch decisions in the next four weeks, and that a player strike has not been discussed.

There are signs of movement on both sides. TheBullPost reports Patten recently told BBC Sport the players were facing an uphill battle but remained optimistic the tour would consider counter-proposals, and that since Wimbledon there have been several meetings between both sides, including recently at the Shanghai Masters. It also reports ATP sources insist a compromise is likely to be found. Whether that compromise keeps doubles draws at a size where a professional can make a living is the question the letter exists to force, and it will be answered in Turin.

Tennis players keep having to publish their case to be heard, whether it is Iva Jovic showing the abuse in her inbox after Ningbo, the practice-court row that followed Alexander Zverev in Shanghai, or the ball-kid warning that followed Rafael Jodar in Shanghai. The doubles letter belongs in that pattern, with one difference: this time the players are not reacting to one incident. They are trying to stop a structural change before it happens, and they have put 185 signatories on the attempt.