Saudi Arabia is now expanding its influence in world sports to include tennis.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is entering into a multi-year partnership with the ATP players’ association. This will be announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The merger is said to be a “significant joint commitment to promote global tennis.”
Specifically, the PIF will become the official partner of the ATP world rankings and some major tournaments. These are Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing. This also includes the ATP Finals in Turin and the Next Gen Finals, which were held in Jeddah for the first time last year and are scheduled to take place there until 2027.
Negotiations are also underway with WTA
Saudi Arabia launched an offensive some time ago and appointed Rafael Nadal as ambassador. A show tournament will take place in Riyadh in October, which will be contested by Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.
Speculation about hosting the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia has also been the subject of discussion for months at the Women’s Tennis Organization (WTA). The WTA announced on Wednesday that negotiations with other possible organizers are not over yet; they do not want to rule anything out.
The tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had already spoken out strongly against hosting the “Masters” on the Arabian Peninsula in mid-January. Not only do women in Saudi Arabia not have equal rights, the LGBTQ community is also criminalized in the country, it was said in mid-January.
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2024-02-28 18:28:42
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