By RS
Published 37 minutes ago, Updated now
ATP President Andrea Gaudenzi Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic / Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic
After the project carried by the Grand Slams, Saudi Arabia supported by the ATP would propose two billion dollars and a merger of the circuits. A “take it or leave it” offer, which would expire in three months, as revealed by The Telegraph.
At the end of November, the American sports media The Athletic stated that the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open were considering the creation of a premium circuit with the four Grand Slam tournaments and the ten most important remaining tournaments. , the Masters and WTA 1000. Among the reasons that motivated the possible creation of this circuit are player complaints regarding the schedule, injuries and the distribution of profits between tournaments and players, would be spread over 20 weeks per year. And only the hundred best players in the world would be affected. Those ranked from 100th to 300th place would play in a secondary circuit made up of other existing smaller tournaments. L’Team specifies in today’s edition that the president of the FFT Gilles Morretton would not be closed to this project, where the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo and the Rolex Paris Masters would not appear among the 10 premium tournaments…
Le Telegraph reveals the existence of another camp, led by ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi, ready to turn to Saudi investors so that the ATP (men’s) and WTA (women’s) circuits merge. After football and golf, Saudi Arabia could become a key player in tennis. She announced the color at the beginning of February with the announcement of the competition which will take place next October on «6 Kings Slam» in Riyadh with the announced presence of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) recently announced an agreement to “multi-year strategic partnership» with the ATP men’s tennis circuit, illustrating the growing influence of the Gulf kingdom in the world of sport.
The rich Saudi fund will thus become “the official partner of the ATP ranking”, which will now officially be called the PIF ATP Rankings. A starting point. While until now Saudi Arabia had been content to organize exhibition matches, investors would like to obtain the organization of the Women’s Masters at the end of the season and the obtaining of a Masters 1000 at the opening of the season in the Gulf. An envelope of two billion dollars would be on the negotiating table Just that! Not necessarily to the taste of the Australians who almost exclusively welcome the start of the season. According to information from The Telegraph, the Saudi offer to merge the men’s and women’s circuits is subject to deadlines, with an expiration period of three months if it is not accepted. So time is running out. The ATP has already postponed its annual meeting from Miami next week to Madrid at the beginning of May, where the decision on the PIF offer is expected to be made, specifies the British media. We will know more about the short and medium term future of world tennis.
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