Saudi Arabia is pushing to purchase two of the most prestigious tournaments in professional tennis, with representatives of the country’s investment funds making recent pitches to take over events in Miami or Madrid, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions.
The tournaments are owned by IMG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate that is part of Endeavor, the sprawling representation and live event business. Saudi Arabia’s push to acquire one of the events represents its latest efforts to embed itself into the highest levels of the pro tours. Both Madrid and Miami are so-called 1,000-level events, just below the four Grand Slams in significance and on par with the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Italian Open in Rome. Tournaments of this size have previously sold for several hundred million dollars.
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According to people with knowledge of the discussions, who requested anonymity so as not to jeopardize their professional relationships, the talks are preliminary and could fall apart amid the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, but they come on the heels of a series of significant wins for Saudi Arabia in its effort to become a major player in international sports. A spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s sports interests did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Saudi Arabia is also continuing to pursue a long-term deal to host the WTA Tour Finals, the leading event in women’s tennis. That effort has been ongoing throughout this year and would represent the next triumph for a country that is determined to become a hub of international sports.
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Earlier this week, the country scored its biggest victory yet, putting itself on the cusp of becoming the host of the 2034 World Cup. When Australia pulled out of the running, Saudi Arabia was left as the only candidate for the event, which FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, plans to award late in 2024, even though the event will not take place for 11 years.
Late last month, the country announced it would host two tennis exhibitions in late December, including a match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, the world’s top two men’s players, whose budding rivalry has captivated the sport. In June, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour and its rival, the long-established PGA Tour, agreed to the framework of a deal to merge following more than a year of acrimony and litigation.
Saudi officials have been in talks with top tennis executives for more than a year about multiple potential investments. Tennis officials are eager to placate their Saudi suitors and avoid the aggressive push the country made in golf, where it signed top players to contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars and upended the structure of the sport.
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Industry experts see tennis as ripe for disruption because of its fractured management, which includes seven different governing bodies, each pursuing its own interests. Players have long complained about the 11-month season and receiving a lower percentage of revenues than athletes in team sports, in part because so much money goes to covering the costs of the governing bodies that use the players as independent contractors.
Saudi Arabia’s oil riches and its enthusiasm for becoming a major player in professional sports make it a strong candidate to cause the potential disruption, though its record on human rights can make it a problematic partner for sports organizations, especially those with athletes who are gay, as the country criminalizes homosexuality. Also, only in recent years has the ruling royal family granted rights to women — such as driving a car — that are basic in Western countries.
Nevertheless, during the summer, Saudi Arabia was a leading candidate to become the long-term host of the season-ending WTA Tour Finals. In September, The WTA Tour signed a one-year agreement with Cancun, Mexico, which is currently hosting the event, to put off the decision on a long-term destination until later this year.
Saudi Arabia did manage to win the rights to host the ATP Tour’s Next Gen Finals, which features the top players under the age of 21 in men’s tennis. That event is scheduled for late December.
The country’s determination to land a 1,000-level event — of which there were nine this year, six of which were “mixed” with both men and women competing — led to inquiries and preliminary discussions about Miami and Madrid with IMG, which represents some of the biggest stars of the sport, including Alcaraz. Both tournaments are among the most successful non-Grand Slam events and have long histories in their host cities, which could complicate efforts to move one of the tournaments to Saudi Arabia.
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In 2019, IMG moved the Miami tournament from Key Biscayne, off the coast of downtown Miami, to Hard Rock Stadium, which is roughly 20 miles north of the city in Miami Gardens. The new set-up, with the main court wedged into the corner of the massive football stadium, has received mixed reviews from players and fans, but it appeared to hit its stride this year as the world emerged from the pandemic, with a record 386,000 fans attending the two-week event.
In addition, while IMG owns the Miami Open, it has a long-term operating agreement with the company controlled by Stephen Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, which has built an expansive tennis complex in the Hard Rock Stadium parking lot.
IMG purchased the Madrid Open last year. It quickly began investing in improving the facilities and hospitality at the event.
Its parent company, Endeavor, had previously received a $400 million investment from Saudi Arabia but returned the money following the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, who was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018.
In an interview last week, Steve Simon, chief executive of the WTA Tour, said no decision has been made about a new long-term partnership, but said he expected to have a deal in place by the end of the year. In recent days, WTA leaders advised players participating in the competition in Mexico on how to respond to questions about playing in Saudi Arabia, suggesting they note that a decision has not been made yet, but consider saying:
“I’m happy to play wherever the WTA Finals is hosted, it’s a prestigious event.”
And, “Wherever the finals is held next year, I trust that the WTA will continue to follow its mission to build a strong future for women’s tennis.”
And, “I’m thankful for the chance to show more women and girls and people around the world all that tennis has to offer.”
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Most female players have largely avoided the topic during the year, though during the U.S. Open, Jessica Pegula, a member of the WTA Tour’s Players’ Council, said the tour should require a guarantee that they will be part of a process of making changes in the country.
“Unfortunately a lot of places don’t pay women a lot of money,” Pegula said. “It’s unfortunate that a lot of women’s sports, we don’t have the luxury to say no to some things.”
(Top photo: Aaron Gilbert/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)