Chris Kermode (born 13 January 1965) is a retired English male

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player, a former tournament director and the executive chairman & president of the

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, an ...

(ATP) from 2014 to 2019. On 20 November 2013 Kermode was appointed as the ATP executive chairman & president to succeed

Brad Drewett Brad Drewett (19 July 1958 – 3 May 2013) was an Australian tennis player and ATP official. He was the 1975 and 1977 Australian Open junior champion and the youngest player at age 17 to win the title since Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe. He w ...

who died of an illness in May 2013. His three-year term started on 1 January 2014, and he is based in the ATP’s London office. On 7 March 2019 the ATP announced that Kermode would leave his position at year-end. An article on ESPN.com suggests Kermode's departure was due to a "palace coup engineered" in part by

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

. Kermode has been involved in tennis for more than 30 years. Following his modest career as a professional player from 1985 to 1988, Kermode worked in London as a tennis coach and later served as the tournament director of the

Queen's Club Championships The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) T ...

. From 2008 to 2014 he has been the managing director of the ATP World Tour's season-ending event

ATP World Tour Finals The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...

. In addition Kermode has worked in the music and film business. Before being appointed by the ATP Kermode applied for the position of chief executive at the British

Lawn Tennis Association The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Founded in 1888, the LTA promotes all levels of lawn tennis. It believes that tennis can provide "physical ...

(LTA) but was not selected.

Family

Kermode is the grandson of Sir Derwent Kermode who was the British Ambassador to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(1950–1953) and

the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Cz ...

(1953–1955) before taking Holy Orders and becoming vicar at

Cocking, West Sussex Cocking is a village, parish and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The village is about three miles (5 km) south of Midhurst on the main A286 road to Chichester. In the 2001 census there were 190 households in ...

References

External links

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Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kermode, Chris 1965 births Living people English male tennis players British male tennis players British sports executives and administrators Place of birth missing (living people) People from Cocking, West Sussex Tennis executives