Saudi Arabia will host a brand new ATP Masters event, doubtless beginning in 2028, within the first addition to the males’s tennis tour’s premium collection since its founding 35 years in the past.
The ATP introduced the formation of a tenth Masters occasion on Thursday, however ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi would not decide to a definitive 12 months for the debut or a precise spot on the calendar. This enlargement comes as gamers renew calls to rethink a protracted and crowded schedule for the game.
“All we are able to say at this stage,” Gaudenzi stated on a video convention with reporters, “is that it’s going to be at first of the season … first a part of the season.”
He stated he wish to put the 56-player, one-week event in February, after the Australian Open ends — calling that “the higher final result” — and ideally institute a system with a Center East swing and South American swing happening throughout that portion of the 12 months.
That is the most recent in a collection of strikes to convey cash from Saudi Arabia into tennis and convey the game to the dominion, together with the ATP Subsequent Gen Finals for up-and-coming gamers that’s held in Jeddah and the WTA Finals for the very best girls’s tennis gamers held in Riyadh. The Public Funding Fund additionally sponsors each the ladies’s and males’s rankings.
Corridor of Famers Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have been among the many critics of the game’s ties to Saudi Arabia due to considerations about LGBTQ+ and ladies’s rights there.
Gaudenzi stated the plan is to launch the Saudi Arabia Masters in 2028, with the dates introduced someday subsequent 12 months.
“The precise place on the calendar will not be but determined,” he stated. “Clearly, February is without doubt one of the choices. … It’s a risk, however not determined but.”
Danny Townsend, the CEO of SURJ Sports activities Funding, a PIF firm, wouldn’t rule out that the brand new event might ultimately be part of the rising ranks of two-week, joint occasions with each ladies and men.
“There are advantages from having each women and men taking part in on the identical time. I do know there’s uplifts in ticket gross sales, a bunch of different industrial parts that we would definitely need to higher profit from,” Townsend stated. “However that’s all sooner or later. We’d actually by no means say by no means and discover if it grew to become an choice.”
