Steve Simon will leave his position as the WTA’s CEO but stay on as Executive Chairman following an organizational restructuring. The WTA said on Tuesday that the project has been ongoing for several months and is irrelevant to the player complaints that surfaced during last month’s season-ending championships.
Apart from the CEO of WTA Ventures, the company founded this year with CVC Capital Partners, who will also report to Simon, there will be other impending changes in the leadership. President Micky Lawler will leave, and he won’t be replaced.
Simon expressed that he believes it would be better if a woman tried out for the CEO role.
Simon said in a recent interview: “My focus will go to, obviously, governance. Managing the respective boards and councils. Working directly with the CEOs of the daily business of the tour. I’ll be able to spend more time on the geopolitical issues that remain very prevalent in the sport and do affect the business. I will spend more time working on the strategic direction of the organization and the challenges that face the organization.”
He claimed that during his leadership, women’s tennis has seen a notable increase in revenue.
He added: “I believe we were a $64 million business in ’16, and we’ll be a $128 million business this year. And we’re due to double that by 2027 with our current business plan projections.”
In a letter to Simon, players raised some other issues. The subjects included a proposed amendment to the rules of required tournament appearances as well as the establishment of guaranteed income and coverage for maternity leave and injury absences.
Simon concluded his discussion: “We started these discussions about changing the WTA leadership structure in the summer, so they’re not tied to anything that happened in Cancun or the perception that it hasn’t been the easiest of years.”