BARCELONA – The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) could soon be introducing its own Royal Rumble,’ an ATP official told The Dependent on the sidelines of the ongoing Barcelona Open on Friday.
The move comes amidst demand for more competitiveness during the clay court season, ahead of World No 1 Rafael Nadal’s quarterfinal matchup against Martin Klizan.
“We’re going to introduce the Royal Rumble during the clay court season, to make sure the tournaments remain competitive,” the ATP official said. “We had mulled it in 2013 as well, but injuries had given us hope for competition at this time of the year. But after last year and the way this season has started, we fear we might have to go ahead with it.”
The ATP hasn’t finalised the exact dynamics, but it would be based on the Royal Rumble in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where multiple players can take on one player and then compete among themselves after eliminating him.
“The idea first started as a two-on-one tennis match played on the doubles court,” the ATP official said. “But we agreed that we would need more than two players to be on one side.”
“The new rules allow players who’ve formed a team to be present on both sides of the court to push and grab the player that has been outnumbered, when need be.”
