Tennis news - Roger Federer suggests merging men's ATP and women's WTA

Federer believes that sport's governing bodies should come together in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The 38-year-old wants the men's Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to merge, highlighting the fact that it should have been done before now.

"We can come out of this with two weakened bodies or one stronger body," said Federer, who also said that it "probably should have happened a long time ago".

The Swiss added: "I am not talking about merging competition on the court but merging the two governing bodies that oversee the men's and women's professional tours.

"It's too confusing for the fans when there are different ranking systems, different logos, different websites, different tournament categories."

Federer tweeted the comments, with players such as Rafa Nadal, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza among those agreeing with what he had to say.

Nadal replied to his great rival: "As you know per our discussions I completely agree that it would be great to get out of this world crisis with the union of men's and women's tennis in one organisation."

Both the French Open and Wimbledon have been cancelled, with no competitive tennis scheduled until 13 July, although that is subject to change with ongoing developments.