Laurent Delanney
The ATP world tour comprises of 62 tournaments in 32 countries. Laurent Delanney shares the challenges of running the mens professional tennis circuit.
Laurent Delanney, CEO of ATP Europe and ATP Commercial Director, first developed a passion for tennis during his youth. Playing the sport as a child, he never could have imagined that this childhood interest would set the trajectory for his professional career. After college in Los Angeles, in the US, I came back to Europe and after two years working in the family business, which was in womens fashion, I found my way to what was my passionsports and sports marketing.
Thanks to the confidence of the directors at the sports-marketing agency ProServ, which was what it was called at the time, I worked for a number of years, around seven years, at ProServ based in Paris, which is the European headquarters. I was managing professional tennis players, ranging from junior up-and-coming players to superstars like Yannick Noah, who at the time was French Open champion, world number three, and a big star internationally and certainly in France. I also worked on some events including the tournament in Antwerp, which handed out a gold and diamond racket as its trophy.