Program areas at ATP World Tour
ATP continued to deliver value to its members through sponsorships, TV, prize money, and pension benefits across the 2021 ATP Tour season. In March, ATP introduced a COVID relief package that raised minimum prize money levels for ATP 250 and ATP 500 tournaments. Total ATP Tour player compensation totaled US$ 98.7 million in 2021, made up of On-Site Prize Money and Bonus Pool. ATP increased pension contributions to pre-pandemic levels, delivering US$ 73,800 pension contributions per player, for a total contribution of US$ 12.1 million. In addition, the ATP Challenger Tour delivered a total of US$ 9.8 million in prize money, up from US$ 4.8 million the year prior. ATP introduced a new COVID-19 Protected Ranking provision to give players additional security and increased player team allowances on-site at events. ATP also introduced new education partnerships and conducted an internal safeguarding review, in line with a commitment to ensure all adults and minors involved in professional tennis are safe and protected from abuse. In November, ATP became a member of UN Sports for Climate Action, pledging to reduce ATP's carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and achieve Net Zero by 2040.
The ATP successfully governed the men's professional tennis circuits - the ATP Tour; the ATP Challenger Tour; and the ATP Champions Tour. In January 2021, ATP delivered the second edition of the ATP Cup, in partnership with Tennis Australia. Originally scheduled to take place across three cities in Australia, the event was hosted in Melbourne due to COVID-19, and delivered over US$ 4.6 million in prize money. In November, the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals was held for the first time in the Piedmont capital of Turin, Italy. The event delivered over US$ 7.2 million in prize money, generating an audience across broadcast, digital and social of over 109 million. Turin became the 15th city to host the prestigious season-ending tournament since its inception in 1970. In total, the 2021 season featured 60 ATP Tour events. This included several new tournaments, issued as single-year event licenses in order to provide additional playing opportunities. A total of 12 regular ATP Tour events were cancelled due to the pandemic, including the entire 2021 Asian Swing.
The ATP's marketing and promotional efforts continued to elevate the profile of professional tennis in 2021. Over 734 million viewers tuned in on television and online throughout the season. The Tour's official website, ATPTour.com, attracted over 127 million visits, with total website page impressions reaching 444 million. In parallel, the ATP's total social media following grew to a record 10.4 million across official accounts.