\u2022 Unsolicited for the NYC crowd, note the centennial concert<\/a> at Lincoln Center next week.<\/p>\n \u2022 The WTA announced<\/a> the appointment of Valerie Camillo as its new chair, charged with leading the next phase of growth for women\u2019s professional tennis. Camillo will begin her role on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n Onward \u2026<\/p>\n I listened to the emergency Served. The floor of my car has a dent in it from my jar dropping on the news of the Saudi 1000. If there was ever proof that the schedule will never, ever see the wholesale change AR\u2019s talked about it\u2019s this. (Unless, Sistine Chapel-like, the Lord touches tennis and creates a living Commissioner of Tennis. I ain’t holding my breath.)<\/p>\n Skip Schwarzman<\/p>\n \u2022 Here is the emergency podcast episode<\/a> on the new Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia. This news was the biggest source of mailbag chatter this week. Here are 10 points without mentioning the word sportswashing:<\/p>\n 1) The top players have been relentless and consistent in their cries that the season is too long, too taxing and there are too many mandatory events. As players take to social media\u2014from a hospital bed<\/a> in one case\u2014the ATP has been strikingly and disappointingly silent. Then, a few days later, we get the gushing press release<\/a> about a 10th Masters 1000 event? Tennis, baby.<\/p>\n 2) Props to the Saudis here. LIV Golf was\u2014and is\u2014a disaster, a hostile takeover attempt that went sideways and damaged a sport (and various reputations) along the way. Lesson learned, the Saudi foray into tennis was much smoother, gentler and strategic. Saudi Arabia held some exhibitions, landed the WTA Finals, sponsored the rankings, got the blessing of folks like Rafael Nadal <\/a>and Billie Jean King<\/a>, and, with minimal fanfare or controversy, here we are.\u00a0<\/p>\n 3) Oddly, this splashy announcement neglected to mention where in the tennis calendar this event would fall. Not exactly a minor detail. (February is the obvious place, though there is speculation it could begin in late December before the Australian swing.) It also mentioned 2028 as the start, but I keep hearing 2027.<\/p>\n 4) Included in this Saudi windfall? Money for the ATP buyback pool. What does this mean? The ATP can (must?) start buying out events and decluttering the calendar. This windfall also includes the equivalent of an expansion fee, a distribution to the other events for allowing the new guy into the club.<\/p>\n 5) Assuming this event slides into February, it\u2019s bad news for the South American events. Which is a pity because these are some of the most spirited, enthusiastically attended and vibrant tournaments. And there is a future star who could singlehandedly prop them up. (He just won Base<\/a>l.)<\/p>\n 6) The ATP held open bidding for this 10th Masters event. But imagine you\u2019re Qatar\u2014not exactly a country strapped for cash\u2014and you\u2019ve been a loyal, sanction-paying ATP citizen for decades. And your rival country essentially jumps the line?<\/p>\n 7) What do we make of the fact that this splashy announcement was not made in conjunction with Six Kings? You have Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in Riyadh 72 hours before this broke. Wouldn\u2019t you want them as part of the rollout?<\/p>\n Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz to win the Six Kings Slam. \/ Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n 8) Technically, as a Masters 1000 that is not mandatory, this Saudi event can pay appearance fees. If players are getting seven-figure payouts for a low-energy, three-day exhibition, imagine the fees that stars can\u2014and will\u2014command for a Masters 1000.\u00a0<\/p>\n And, where are the women? Again and again, we hear whispers about this joint WTA-ATP venture finally happening. Again and again we hear\u2014and agree\u2014that tennis events are best when men and women are together. Again and again, we hear that Saudi Arabia really wants to send a message that it values men and women equally. Wouldn\u2019t this have been an ideal time and place for a joint event?<\/p>\n 9) Sportswashing adjacent: It bears repeating that traditional sports economics don\u2019t matter here. This is not the usual calculus: i.e., making more in media rights, tickets, suites, sponsors and merch (and now gambling revenues) than you disburse in salary and prize money. This is about a government-sponsored rebrand of an entire country. On a balance sheet, this makes no sense. Do the back-of-the-napkin math on the Six Kings Slam, and it could easily have lost five times what it earned. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n 10) For all the complaints and concerns, let\u2019s take a glass-half-full view. Like most workforces, tennis players want more money. Getting Saudi Arabia into the tennis fold is in service of that. Men\u2019s tennis could use a big-ticket event after the buzz of Australia and before the buzz of Indian Wells. If the buyback fund thins the herd of tournaments, it looks less galling to add a 109th Masters 1000.<\/p>\n \u00a0O.K., I lied. One sportswashing point: I try to strike a balance between naive and cynical; vigilance while keeping an open mind. It\u2019s easy to see how investing in sports (and comedy and music fests) can launder a reputation, put concealer over human rights abuses and normalize an autocracy. But it\u2019s also easy to see how\u2014if you\u2019re trying to diversify an economy, retain your younger population, show the world you\u2019re a tolerant, modernized, fun-loving society and demystify what is mysterious to many\u2014investing in the soft power of sports makes sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this case, Saudi Arabia is indisputably moving in a progressive direction. But it still is only a few years from the killing of a journalis<\/a>t, a murder that, per U.S. intelligence, was done with knowledge (or at the behest of) its leader. It still criminalizes homosexuality. It still ranks near the bottom among countries in terms of women\u2019s rights<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n