Larry Scott, speaking to TENNIS.com in a telephone interview this morning, gave two reasons for his decision to resign as chairman and CEO of the WTA Tour: A grueling travel schedule that kept him from his wife and three young children, and impasses that prevented the WTA from merging with the ATP Tour.
On Tuesday, Scott announced that he would become commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference, effective July 1. Scott said he began to consider leaving the WTA at the end of last year, after the ATP approached him about its CEO position.
“They approached me about taking the ATP job, and I said no, I wasn’t interested in that, but what I really thought the sport needed to do to unlock its full potential was for the WTA and the ATP to merge,” Scott said. “I have a deep belief that that needs to happen. It’s obviously not going to happen on my watch.”
Scott did not travel to Melbourne in January for the Australian Open, a tournament he hadn’t missed in 20 years, dating back to his days as pro on the men’s tour and extending through his years working for the ATP and the WTA. Scott said he skipped the tournament because the players’ meeting that is normally held in Melbourne was moved to Miami. The time at home gave him a chance to reflect on his career.
“I was away from home 140 nights last year,” Scott said. “Not traveling for two months opened me up to what I was missing.”
Even so, Scott said the decision to leave the WTA wasn’t an easy one, largely because he has spent his entire life in tennis, from time as a top junior, to an all-American at Harvard, to various positions at the ATP and then the WTA. If a merger between the ATP and the WTA had been possible, he said, “We wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Scott said he and his family would move from St. Petersburg to the San Francisco area once he settles into his new job. He views the Pac-10 as an institution similar to the WTA before his tenure—a product with a lot of untapped potential. Under Scott’s watch, the WTA has had its most successful years: Prize money has increased and is now equal to prize money on the ATP Tour; the tour has a larger presence in Asia and the Middle East; and marketing opportunities for top women players—especially endorsement contracts—have multiplied. Scott said the recent outcry over the Dubai tournament, which denied a visa to Israeli player Shahar Peer, had nothing to do with his decision to leave. Scott received some criticism for allowing the tournament to go forward, but he stands by the decision and says a larger good came from it: Andy Ram, an Israeli doubles player, was allowed into Dubai a week later for an ATP event.
“When the story is written, it will be a seen as a diplomatic coup,” Scott said. “It caused a government to change its policy in five days.”
Tom Perrotta is a senior editor at TENNIS.