This Week in Tennis History: The Parking Lot Revolution

In 1973, it looked as if men’s tennis finally belonged to its players. A union—the ATP—had been formed in ’72 and proved its power by convincing 81 members to boycott Wimbledon. It seemed only a matter of time before the pros would run the show.

That’s not how it worked out. The game’s amateur officials slowly regrouped. By the late ’80s, they formed a Grand Slam Committee and made the majors more lucrative and prestigious than ever. They also continued to share leadership duties in the game’s governing body, the Men’s Pro Council.

By the 1988 US Open, the players had had enough. With Hamilton Jordan, Jimmy Carter’s former chief of staff, leading the way, the ATP decided to announce that the players would go their own way. At first, the Open’s officials refused to let the players use the logical place for the announcement, the tournament’s interview room. So Jordan led his troops off the grounds. With Brad Gilbert (pictured below), Mats Wilander, Yannick Noah and others beside him, he announced their breakaway in a parking lot at the National Tennis Center.

As in 1973, the issue was control. But unlike in ’73, prize money was not at the top of the list of the players’ concerns. What they wanted was to play each other more often. By the late ’80s, tournaments of various sizes and significance were held all over the world with little thought to player health or fan interest. Exhibitions and appearance fees sent the big names scrambling for cash.

“It’s not about money,” John McEnroe said. “What we’re trying to do is present a better image of tennis to the public, so they’ll see more big matches between the top players.”

Mission accomplished. The ATP’s key innovation was to link the most important tournaments in what would eventually be called the Super 9 series (and later named the Masters 1000s). These events killed two birds with one stone: They were mandatory, and they couldn’t offer appearance fees.

And they worked. Today the ATP’s Big Four face each other constantly, and fans know the Masters events matter. There was gold, it turned out, in that parking lot.