Jannik Sinner was holding a golden racket. The Italian was smiling and no wonder, he had just pocketed 5 million euros. At their side, the Saudi authorities were also happy, they already knew that this was the first step, that days later tennis would receive surprising news; Saudi Arabia will host an ATP Masters 1000 for the first time starting in 2028.
The Six Kings Slam was a simple show of muscle. In many ways it even made no sense. A tennis player eliminated in the quarterfinals earned the same as a finalist, but it didn’t matter, Saudi Arabia just wanted to show that it can attract the best tennis players in the world, that it has the pocketbook to do so and that it wants its share of the pie in men’s tennis as it already has in women’s tennis, in soccer, golf, Formula One and so many others.
Fear of a LIV 2.0
It was in 2023 when it began to be heard that Saudi Arabia wanted to enter the ATP calendar. Fear arose, of course. The conflict in golf between the LIV and the PGA was very close and the ATP and the WTA did not want a new circuit to emerge that would “eat” theirs.
Therefore, given the impossibility of creating a fifth Grand Slam and how short an ATP 500 or 250 was, the Masters 1000 was the perfect middle point. Their first intention was to buy one of the existing licenses and Miami and Madrid saw theirs threatened. These did not want to sell and changed hands a few weeks ago, from IMG to MARI, and remain on the calendar.
The other option that the ATP was handling was to create a tenth Masters 1000. Since its establishment in 1990, there have always been nine Masters, although with small adjustments such as the change of name in 2008, from Masters Series to Masters 1000, and variations in the venues, until Saudi Arabia appeared to shake it up and give the arm of the ATP to twist, which is aware that in the face of the current pressures from the players, it is better to grant a tenth tournament than the incipient threat of a parallel circuit that takes away its stars as the LIV already did.
And this announcement occurs in a context of criticism in tennis. Tennis players got tired of not being taken into account in decision-making and attacked the authorities and the tournaments for what they consider to be a deadly schedule and profits that do not correspond to what is generated.
Find out: Jannik Sinner doubled Alcaraz in earnings at the ATP Masters 1000 in 2024
Tennis players want to play less and win more, especially in a scenario of tennis popularity never seen before, with the remnants of the “Big Three” and the dominating rivalry between Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Despite this, not all of Saudi Arabia’s initial intentions have been met, which wanted a two-week Masters 1000 and a field of 96 players, in addition to a WTA 1000 to be played simultaneously. They will have to settle for a smaller team, with 56 tennis players and a gap in the schedule worse than expected.
A calendar problem
The Saudis wanted it to be the starting point of the season and the prelude to the Australian Open, but the Oceanic federation fought for it not to be that way, because it would swallow up all the small events that serve as a warm-up for the first Grand Slam of the year.
In this scenario, the only viable place to locate the tournament is just after Australia, taking advantage of the fact that in February it is played in Doha and Dubai, two lower category events.
The ATP will have to solve an interesting puzzle for 2028, because in February there is room for the qualifying phase of the Davis Cup, which occupies one week of the month, the always mistreated South American clay court tour, mainly in Argentina and Brazil, the tournaments indoor in Europe, as well as championships in the United States, Mexico and those already mentioned in the Middle East.
In addition to the financial power to be able to organize the exhibitions they want and also show them on a platform with millions of users like Netflix, Saudi Arabia already has in its hands a Masters 1000, the WTA Finals, which bring together the eight best tennis players on the planet in Riyadh at the end of the course, the Next Gen Finals, in which the eight best U21s of the year compete, two ambassadors like Rafael Nadal and Paula Badosa and the WTA maternity program, which allows women to receive financial assistance when they decide to have children.
With information from EFE
Follow the information about sports in our specialized section
