Saudi Arabia to Host a Masters Tennis Tournament

Saudi Arabia has joined the ranks of major nations hosting premier tennis tournaments, after the ATP announced the launch of a new Masters 1000 event to be held annually in the Kingdom starting in 2028.

The new tournament will be played on hard courts at the start of the season, with the host city to be determined later, and will last for one week, according to ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi during a press conference in Paris.

Gaudenzi described this expansion to ten tournaments as “a proud moment for us and the result of years of work,” noting that this long-awaited step is the first expansion of the Masters category for men since 1990.

The Saudi event will join the nine current tournaments in this category, which are staged in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Toronto/Montreal, Cincinnati, Shanghai, and Paris.

The addition of a new event to the tennis calendar comes at the end of a season that saw complaints from some players about the grueling pace of a tour that stretches from January to November.

But unlike most other Masters tournaments, the Saudi event will not be mandatory. According to the ATP, it will be launched as part of a deal with a sports investment company linked to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The amount invested by the company, “SRJ Sports Investments,” to secure the new Masters tournament was not disclosed. Bandar Bin Mokren, Chairman of SRJ, said: “Hosting a Masters 1000 event in Saudi Arabia is a major step in developing tennis in the region. This partnership reaffirms our shared commitment with the ATP to grow and promote the sport globally.”

He added: “This announcement reflects the Kingdom’s growing role as a leading destination for global sporting events, and supports our ambitions to back athletes and provide fans with an exceptional experience over the coming years. We are proud to lead these efforts with our partners, and we look forward to staging a tournament that will have a lasting positive impact on tennis.”

Saudi Arabia has boosted its global sporting presence in recent years, particularly in tennis, having hosted the WTA Finals in Riyadh in 2024.

A Saudi source close to the deal said: “Tennis is one of the sports we believe will grow massively.”

He added: “There is already a lot of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, and tennis has huge appeal to the younger generation. It ticks all the boxes the PIF is looking at.”

The Public Investment Fund has tied its name to ATP rankings and forged partnerships with several Masters 1000 tournaments, including Indian Wells, Miami, and Madrid.

Meanwhile, the Next Gen ATP Finals have been held in Jeddah since 2023.

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