Saturday 04 / May / 2024
Riyadh: The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is reportedly in discussions with Saudi Arabia to engineer a dramatic change to the start of the men's tennis season.
According to British newspaper, The Times, Saudi Arabia is keen to host a new Masters 1000 tournament just a week before the Australian Open. It would likely have a profound impact on the first Grand Slam of the year.
Masters series events are considered the second-most important tier of tournaments behind the Grand Slam majors. A new January Masters event would undoubtedly see warm-up tournaments in Australia lose most of the top names in men's tennis, and much of their ability to draw fans as a result.
If confirmed, the tournament would push the top men's players into an event in Riyadh that would finish just eight days before the start of the major in Melbourne, 12,000 kilometres and eight time zones away.
The ATP tour schedule is already a full 11 months, kicking off with the United Cup, a combined men's and women's team event in Australia before leading up to the late January start of the Australian Open.
But a proposed investment from Saudi Arabia "would be worth hundreds of millions of pounds", reports The Times, with the Riyadh tournament suggested to start in January 2025.
Saudi Arabia means business
Saudi Arabia"s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund which has invested heavily in numerous professional sports including football, golf, Formula One, boxing and cricket, has also got previous history with tennis.
Tennis great Billie Jean King said she expects the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to give in to Saudi offers but hopes the WTA will push for social change as part of its dealmaking.
After a much-criticized WTA Finals recently wrapped up in Cancun, Mexico, talk is said to have stepped up regarding moving the finals to Saudi Arabia in coming years. The WTA Finals is the most significant event in the women's game outside of the four majors.
WTA CEO Steve Simon has said that Saudi Arabia presented "big issues" as a host for women's tour events, because Saudi Arabia's record on women's and LGBTQ rights has led to accusations of sportswashing — that is, money spent on sports teams, athletes and events that is meant to distract attention from Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses.
The ATP has declined to comment on the reports by The Times, but chairman Andrea Gaudenzi confirmed he held "positive” discussions with Saudi officials this year about a partnership.
The ATP's end-of-season Next Gen Finals tournament for players aged 21 and under is set for next month in Jeddah, and is part of a deal that will run for five years. The Times also reports that ATP and Saudi representatives will meet at next week's ATP Finals in Turin.
