Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will launch a new ATP Masters 1000 tournament in the Kingdom from 2028, marking the first expansion of the elite category in its 35-year history, the ATP and PIF-owned SURJ Sports Investment said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The new event will make Saudi Arabia the 10th Masters 1000 host, joining Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Toronto\/Montreal, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris.<\/p>\n
ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi called the announcement \u201ca proud moment that has been years in the making,\u201d saying Saudi Arabia had \u201cshown a genuine commitment to tennis – not just at the professional level, but also in growing the game more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event will be owned and operated in Saudi Arabia, staged over one week with a 56-player draw on outdoor hard courts, and will not be mandatory for players.<\/p>\n
SURJ Sports CEO Danny Townsend said they were working with the ATP to create \u201ca world-class stadium and the infrastructure to deliver the tournament,\u201d with an announcement expected in months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve got a couple of years to work that through, and we’ve got a bunch of different options around both the Giga-Projects (large-scale, multi-billion dollar initiatives) that PIF have around the country, but also other facilities,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’d say, we’re a couple of months away from a pretty exciting announcement on that. I think it’s more like three options. So Riyadh, being the centre of the business community and sports community in Saudi is likely to be the place. But we’ve still got work to do on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Townsend stressed the new Masters would not replace the Six Kings Slam, a PIF-backed exhibition featuring six top male players.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of this is about replacing anything,\u201d he told a media round table in Paris on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about being accretive to how we serve sports fans and entertainment customers in the Kingdom and more broadly in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Townsend said the project aligns with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s Vision 2030 economic diversification plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Saudi Arabia, we\u2019ve got multiple stakeholders all with a common goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cVision 2030 is about diversifying the economy. We\u2019re working with Giga-Projects operators to determine who can invest alongside us in infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the long-term model is key to large-scale investment: \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to justify spending the appropriate amount of money to create a world-class facility if you don\u2019t own the asset in perpetuity. <\/p>\n
“We\u2019re moving the Kingdom away from renting sports rights and toward owning them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ATP said proceeds from the new partnership would be used for the sport’s calendar optimisation and to boost the Masters bonus pool to strengthen top-player participation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPIF\u2019s ambition for the sport is clear, and we believe players and fans alike will be amazed by what\u2019s coming,\u201d Gaudenzi said.<\/p>\n
PIF, which manages assets of nearly $1 trillion, has made sports central to its global strategy.<\/p>\n
It holds majority control of Premier League club Newcastle United, backs LIV Golf and has invested in Formula E, boxing and e-sports. The WTA Finals were held in Riyadh in 2024, while Jeddah has hosted the ATP Next Gen Finals since 2023.<\/p>\n
Townsend said bringing a Masters event to Saudi Arabia would \u201cinspire the next generation\u201d and strengthen grassroots participation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince 2019, 140 tennis clubs have been built in the Kingdom and 20 elite academies are in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will launch a new ATP Masters 1000 tournament in the Kingdom from 2028,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-235730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}