After the PGA and Saudi-backed LIV golf tours announced their merger deal earlier this month, The New York Times ran a story about what sport the Saudis are likely to disrupt next.
“Tennis is probably the best candidate for a rival tour,” The Times said. “Like golf, it’s an individual sport, which makes it easier for [Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund] to lure athletes with big checks.”
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Further, “while there’s a smaller cohort of stars to recruit than in golf, a rival league would need only about a dozen players for an elite tour,” The Times said.
Industry experts think that’s going way overboard. They see little likelihood that PIF will attempt to start a tennis tour. But they do see a good chance that Saudi Arabia will increase its involvement with tennis.
The PGA’s willingness to put aside its concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations sets a strong precedent for tennis, says Justin Gimelstob, a former pro tennis player who served on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) men’s tennis tour board of directors.
“This seems like a tipping point moment,” he told TheStreet.com. “There will be an ability to rationalize partnering with Saudi Arabia moving forward, considering they have such significant resources and such an interest in sports.”
PIF has $650 billion under management. In addition to golf, Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in soccer, and Formula One auto racing among other sports.
The PIF’s resources are “essentially” unlimited, said Gimelstob, now president of FBR Group, an insurance planning firm. He compares Saudi Arabia to China, which has established itself as a major investor in sports, including tennis and basketball. “Saudi Arabia is China 2.0,” Gimelstob said.
Why a Saudi Tour is Unlikely
So why can’t Saudi Arabia start its own tennis tour? It’s because the ATP controls rankings, Gimelstob said. Ranking points are garnered at ATP-sanctioned tournaments. And rankings determine who is able to play in the sport’s four Grand Slam tournaments – its most prestigious events, its crown jewels.
So if players participated in a Saudi tour, skipping ATP events, they wouldn’t have a high enough ranking to play in the Grand Slams -- Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
And from the Saudi side, a new tour would likely mean war with the ATP. “I don’t know if the Saudis want to engage in another high-conflict situation,” Gimelstob said.
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Saudi Arabia already has gotten involved with pro tennis, hosting a 12-man exhibition (meaning it’s not part of the ATP tour) tournament in Riyadh last December. The event included five of the world’s top 10 players.
So do the Saudis want to go beyond that? Apparently the answer is yes. Saudi officials are engaged in exploratory talks with the ATP and the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Tour, Alastair Garland, senior vice president of tennis at Octagon sports agency, told TheStreet.com. Both the ATP and WTA declined to comment.
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The Telegraph of London reported last year that Saudi Arabia is trying to bring a WTA tournament to the country. “We have received inquiries from Saudi Arabia as to interest in bringing a WTA event to the region,” the WTA told the paper. But, “we have not entered into formal negotiations.”
The Telegraph last month reported that Saudi Arabia is “closing in on its first official tour event, with the port city of Jeddah emerging as the frontrunner in the bidding for December’s Next Gen ATP Finals.” The Next Gen event is a season-ending championship for players 21 and under.
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The Earth Doesn’t Move in a Day
But chill a bit on all this. “There’s a big difference between exploratory conversations and formal partnerships,” Garland said. “We have to see where this goes, whether this is a mutually beneficial relationship or not.” Holding an exhibition doesn’t require the support of the WTA or ATP, he noted.
There’s no guarantee of a partnership between the Saudis and either of the tennis tours. If one does evolve, it might start as a sponsorship, Garland said. That’s much simpler than holding an event or investing in the tour. “They could go step-by-step, starting small,” he said.
As for tournaments, he pointed out that the tours have had success holding ones in Doha, Qatar; Dubai, UAE; and Abu Dhabi, UAE. The next step after that could be investing in the tours.
CVC Capital Partners, a major investment firm, agreed in March to a $150 million investment in a partnership with the WTA.
To be sure, the WTA and ATP won’t ignore Saudi Arabia’s human rights failings, Garland said. “That’s an issue to be addressed. The players and tours would have to be comfortable,” he said. “Neither the ATP or the WTA would agree to a partnership if their values aren’t upheld.”
The WTA suspended its tournaments in China for 16 months starting in 2022 amid concern about how the government treated former Chinese WTA player Peng Shuai after she accused a former government official of sexually assaulting her.
As for one player’s view on Saudi Arabia, former World No. 1 Andy Murray has said he would never play there.
But Gimelstob sees it a bit differently. Now that the Saudis have been legitimized by the PGA golf deal, it’s time for the tennis tours to engage them, he said.
“The first call for any official in tennis should be to Saudi Arabia. They’re a go-to for anything tours need to plug a [financial] gap,” he said. He predicts they will agree to some kind of deal with the Saudis. “If it’s not announced shortly, I would be shocked.”
