INTERVIEW: Two years with Adam Helfant, a peacemaker in men's tennis

By Sebastian Fest Dec 13, 2010, 5:01 GMT

Madrid - When Adam Helfant took on the job as head of the ATP in early 2009, men's tennis was immersed in a permanent conspiracy, with the world's best players at odds with his predecessor.

Two years on, Helfant has emerged as a peacemaker and has top stars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on his side.

'There are no secrets,' he tells the German Press Agency dpa in an interview. 'When I took the job I knew that our top players had strong opinions about the direction the game should go.'

'I knew that three of them were on our player council, Roger, Rafa and Novak (Djokovic). Since, Fernando Gonzalez has joined the player council. I've spent a lot of time talking to them,' he said.

Helfant knows that he deserves at least some of the credit for the improved situation after the departure of former boss Etienne de Villiers.

'I'm a pretty good listener. I don't make promises that I can't keep, but I think they know that I care about what they have to say and that their voices will be heard,' he says.

A former executive with Nike, the wish to travel less to spend more time with his family did not materialise when he took over the ATP, an organization with 62 tournaments in 32 countries, involving people with more than 100 nationalities in total.

The Brooklyn-born Helfant, 46, got to the top of the ATP at a difficult time, in one of the worst economic and financial crises in recent history. That crisis hit tennis too, he admits, although he says the worst is over now.

'No sport is immune to the global economic situation,' he admits. 'People are voting with their pocketbooks. They can stay home or they can go to watch other sports, or take in other entertainment. And they're showing up in record numbers to watch our sport.'

Helfant remains optimistic.

'When I started it was difficult to get meetings with prospective sponsors, and by the middle of last year that turned and we were having some pretty significant meetings,' he said.

'We've definitely seen an increase in corporate support in men's professional tennis, just during my brief tenure, despite the economic situation,' he says.

Helfant denies that the men's tour focuses too much on Europe and North America, although those two regions hold a huge majority of the most important tournaments.

'I don't think so. Asia is a priority market for us, Asia is a big place,' he notes. 'I think we went about our business in China the right way.'

'We have a global footprint when it comes to our tournaments,' Helfant stresses.

He admits that Germany has seen better days as a tennis market, and he notes that Latin America should stop dreaming of a top-tier Masters 1000 event and not 'downplay' the tournaments it already has.

In his first few months on the job, Helfant had to deal with a bomb from the past exploding on his desk.

Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players in history, confessed in his autobiography, Open, to having taken in forbidden substances and duped the ATP on the issue.

Does Helfant expect more revelations on that level?

'No, I don't.'

'It happened a long time ago,' he said. 'There wasn't anything that we thought we could do, given how many years ago it had happened. But most importantly we looked at it, and the case had handled properly. It went to a tribunal, and the decision was made independently from the ATP.'

Helfant admires the humility of Nadal and Federer, whom he describes as 'great ambassadors that are deeply involved in the governance of our sport.'

While seeing sport's great potential to change the course of the world, he he is not convinced that tennis can emulate football's experience in bringing together Palestinians and Israelis into one single team.

His reply is polite, but not particularly keen.

'This is the second interesting idea that you've given me in today's interview! I appreciate it!' he said.

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