The plan will span both tours and be supported by the WTA, ATP, Grand Slams and ITF. The ATP and WTA Tours are closer to finalizing plans for a player relief fund that is scheduled to provide financial aid to 800 players.

According to the AP’s Howard Fendrich, which received a copy of an official email, the WTA and ATP professional tours, the groups that run the four Grand Slam tournaments and the International Tennis Federation are expected to establish eligibility rules that will factor in the players’ rankings and past prize money earnings.

Tennis plans virus-related financial fund: 800 players, $6 million.

by @howardfendrich
https://t.co/bqh5fpAaRf

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) May 4, 2020

They will reportedly offer a total of $6 million dollars, which would amount to $7,500 per player if distributed evenly.

According to the AP, the distribution will be overseen by the WTA and ATP Tours collectively. This marks a significant step forward in the potential union between the two tours. ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi has called for unity between the tours on several occasions and the issue gained considerable momentum when Roger Federer tweeted in support of tour unity on April 22. His tweet was met with support from Rafael Nadal and several of the leading voices in women’s tennis.

One of the key points to any deal between the tours would be equal prize money across the board. With players on both tours badly in need of relief, the tours have an opportunity to stand firmly for financial equality.

Younger brother of Karim Hossam, who was also banned for life for match fixing.
Match-fixing is a Hossam family fixation.

Egyptian tennis player Youssef Hossam has been banned from professional tennis for life following his conviction on multiple match-fixing and associated corruption charges.

Becker: Unwise To Play US Open

Youssef Hossam's ban comes nearly two years after his older brother, Karim Hossam, was banned for life for match-fixing.

The Tennis Integrity Unit established that over a four-year period between 2015 and 2019, Youssef Hossam conspired with other parties to carry out an extensive campaign of betting-related corruption at the lower levels of professional tennis.

The TIU cited 21 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program, including:

• eight cases of match-fixing
• six cases of facilitating gambling
• two cases of soliciting other players not to use best efforts
• three failures to report corrupt approaches
• two failures to co-operate with a TIU investigation.

As a result of his conviction, Hossam is now permanently banned from competing in or attending any sanctioned tennis event organized or recognised by the governing bodies of the sport. He has been provisionally suspended from all professional tennis since May 2019, as a result of concerns about his alleged involvement in corruption.

The 21-year old is currently ranked 820 in ATP singles and reached a career-high of 291 in December 2017.

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

Nick Kyrgios asks Rafa Nadal to do live Instagram chat.
The coronavirus crisis could spark an epic tennis truce.

Nick Kyrgios has asked long-time nemesis Rafa Nadal to do an Instagram Live chat together. Kyrgios' request came in response to a BBC post asking for intriguing live chat prospects.

More: Thiem Walks Back Comments

"Rafa lets do Instagram live together. I am down with it. Rafael Nadal let's do it," Kyrgios posted on Instagram.

US Open champion Nadal has done live chats with Roger Federer and Andy Murray and recently participated in a live chat with his Spanish Davis Cup teammates.

Nadal has yet to respond to Kyrgios' request. If it happens, it would represent a calm in a sometime volatile relationship.

The temperamental Aussie admitted he tried drilling Nadal "square in the chest" during his second-round Wimbledon loss last summer.

Kyrgios mocked Nadal's pre-serve ritual at the Australian Open in January by picking at the seat of his shorts. The 23rd-seeded Aussie downplayed bad blood with Nadal after the 19-time Grand Slam champion knocked him out of Melbourne.

"I don't really know Rafa. I've never, like, hung out with him or anything like that," said Kyrgios. "So I don't really know how he is. I don't really dislike him. I never said…

.@NickKyrgios not too happy at being called on a time violation…

Wonder who he's talking about here? 🤔

🇦🇺 Watch the #AusOpen LIVE
📺 Eurosport 1 and 2
📱💻🖥 Eurosport Player: https://t.co/0Fa7uXMVB9 pic.twitter.com/758iQPztoB

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) January 23, 2020

Asked how he feels about Kyrgios, Nadal was clear he doesn't appreciate disrespect.

"It's clear, of course, that when he does stuff that in my opinion is not good, I don't like," Nadal said in Melbourne. "When he plays good tennis and he shows passion for this game, he is a positive player for our tour, and I want my tour bigger, not smaller.

"So the players who make the tour bigger are important for the tour. When he's ready to play his best tennis and play with passion, is one of these guys. When he's doing the other stuff, of course I don't like."

The "other stuff" of course includes incidents in their Wimbledon second-round clash turned grudge match.

Nadal called out Kyrgios' body blow aas a dangerous play.

"When he hit the ball like this, is dangerous. Is not dangerous for me, is dangerous for a line referee, dangerous for a crowd," Nadal said. "When you hit the ball like this, you don't know where the ball goes. I know he's a big talented player, but I am a professional player, too. I know when you hit this kind of ball, the ball can go anywhere."

Kyrgios, who was annoyed by what he perceived as Nadal's stalling between points, ripped into the chair umpire during a Nadal bathroom break at SW19.

“What is this stuff bro? Play the game," Kyrgios said on court. "Just kiss up to him, it’s a joke. He takes 40 seconds between every serve, is that within reason? No. So don’t tell me to play within reason."

Afterward, Kyrgios admitted he tried to nail Nadal with the ball and said he has no reason to apologize for the act.

"Why would I apologize?" Kyrgios continued. "I mean, the dude has got how many slams, how much money in the bank account? I think he can take a ball to the chest, bro. I'm not going to apologize to him at all."

A basic conflict between the pair is time management: Nadal is methodical and ritualistic between his service points using every second of the serve clock, while Kyrgios can play at an almost manic pace as if playing speed chess.

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

The Aussie clarifies his comments, but still expresses unwillingness to acqueisce. Dominic Thiem‘s recent comments about not wanting to donate money to a relief fund for lower-ranked players were perceived as way too harsh by many, but the Austrian has since walked some of those comments back.

Not entirely, but a little.

“There are just a few things that bother me about the whole thing,” Thiem told Sky Sport Austria. “I don’t want to back down from my opinion that there are some players I don’t want to support.”

Dominic #Thiem on the relief fund: "There are many things that bother me. I won't change my mind. There are some players I do not want to support."
However: "Some things that I said came across too harsh."

— Lukas Zahrer (@ZahrerLukas) April 28, 2020

Thiem, who has already earned over $1.7 million in prize money in 2019 and over $22 million for his career, isn’t necessarily against being charitable. He would just prefer to choose the charity, and the terms.

“I’d much prefer it to be chosen by the players themselves because then those players who really need it and who really deserve it will benefit,” he said. “What I said came across as a bit strong. I didn’t say it so strongly. There’ll always be people, animals, organisations who need support much more urgently than probably every single athlete.”

Thiem has previously said that there were a lot of lower-ranked players that were not deserving of no questions asked player relief.

"I know the Futures Tour and played there for two years. There are a lot of people who don't give everything to sport," Thiem told Krone.at sports editor Michael Fall in an interview. "I don't see why I should give money to such people. I would prefer to donate to people or institutions that really need it."

Tennis’ governing bodies are working on finalizing a $6 million player relief fund and are still in the process of determining which players will receive the money, and how much each will receive.

The tournament has not ruled out playing without spectators and expects to make a decision about the event in mid-JuneThe US Open is still working on holding the 2020 edition and, in an update posted to its website on April 30, says that it has not ruled out running the event with no spectators. The Covid-19 also reiterated the event’s unwillingness to shift the date or the location of the event.

Latest USTA statement on the 2020 US Open. Nothing truly new but very little appetite for shifting dates or moving locations to Indian Wells or anywhere else. But still not ruled out entirely pic.twitter.com/pNkX32D2LA

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) May 1, 2020

“We understand that there is a great deal of speculation regarding the USTA’s planning for the 2020 US Open,” the statement, posted on USOpen.org, read. “We would like to clarify that while we are exploring every possibility around the US Open, the potential to shift the event location or date is not at the forefront at this point in time.”

The tournament expects to make an announcement on the status of the tournament in a six-to-eight week time frame.

“The USTA's goal is to hold the 2020 US Open in New York on its currently scheduled dates,” the statement read. “In fact, our plans to stage the US Open on our scheduled dates at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York with fans, remain on-going. However, we recognize that we are all facing an uncertain and rapidly changing environment regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore have been aggressively modeling many other contingencies, including scenarios with no fans.”

The pair joined CNN's Christine Amanpour to dive into the biggest issue in tennis right now. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Billie Jean King makes it clear that a potential WTA/ATP merger must be more than an acquisition.

“We’re not an acquisition,” said King. “The WTA would not be an acquisition. We’d be a full partner in this drive to make our sport better and more valuable."

Roger Federer has raised the idea of merging men’s and women’s tennis.@andy_murray: “It’s definitely a step in the right direction.” @BillieJeanKing: “When top male players bring it up, people listen… We’re much stronger… if we’re together.” pic.twitter.com/ZXjHYe9usd

— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) May 1, 2020

King, who participated in a 20-minute discussion on many topics with Murray and Amanpour, added: “We are much stronger if we are together. From sponsorship to opportunities—we can grow. But what we have to understand is that we have to stay together as a sport, because we are not competing within our sport like a lot of tennis people think. Our job is to be together so we can compete against the other entertainment and other sports.”

Andy Murray gave his thoughts on the subject of a potential merger between the tours.

“This is something that obviously Billie Jean has been wanting to happen for 40 to 50 years,” he said. “She’s the one that really had the vision for all of this and we need to remember that. I think it’s great if more of the male players are seeing it as a positive step for the sport.”

Murray went on to highlight some of the oft-overlooked positives about the current state of professional tennis. “I think we have a very unique sport in that we have the men and the women competing at the biggest competitions together, that doesn’t really happen in any of the other global sports and I see that as a big positive,” he said. “We have equal prize money at those events which I think that’s fantastic and I think that’s very attractive to sponsors.”

Though Murray, like many others, sees many potential hurdles when it comes to a potential merger, he’s happy that the conversations is being pushed forward at the moment. In his opinion there are a lot of reasons for the sport to strive for a more united front.

“We have pretty much a 50/50 audience split between the men and women which again is rare across sports,” Murray says. “I think all of these things are things that we should be celebrating in the sport and sometimes they aren’t and there’s a lot of infighting that goes on with these things and I don’t think that should be the case. I think there’s some issues potentially with a merger as well but I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction to start these conversations.”