ATP confirms Saudi Arabia will host major event as John McEnroe ‘I don’t think our sport needs it’
The ATP has announced that one of its biggest season-ending tournaments, the Next Gen ATP Finals, will move to Saudi Arabia with record prize money on offer, but John McEnroe admits he “doesn’t understand why we’re going in that direction”.
Several sporting codes have come under fire in recent years for accepting investment from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds as the Professional Golf Association (PGA) announced earlier this year that it would merge with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, while Newcastle United in the Premier League are owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
And in June this year it emerged that the ATP had held talks with Saudi officials about expanding into tennis and despite criticism from some quarters, the powers that be have taken the first major step into welcoming Saudi investment into the sport as they have announced the Next Gen ATP Finals will take place in Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sport later this year.
“The ATP Tour is truly global and exploring new markets is central to growing the game,” ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said.
“Bringing the Next Gen ATP Finals to Jeddah is our chance to inspire new fans, in a region with a vast young population, and unite audiences around tennis. Our congratulations go to Jeddah and the Saudi Tennis Federation. We look forward to building on the event’s incredible success together.”
The Italian city of Milan has hosted the Next Gen Finals the past five years, but it will run from November 28 to December 2 on the indoor hard courts in Jeddah.
It will be the first time that Saudi Arabia hosts an official tennis tournament and it was also confirmed that $2 million prize money will be on offer to those taking part.
Before the announcement was made, tennis great John McEnroe was asked about Saudi Arabia getting involved in tennis and he admitted he was uneasy.
“This is something that is being bandied about obviously since golf did this, but I think a lot of the people – I’ll preface this by saying – are hypocrites that sit around and say that golf or tennis shouldn’t go there while tons of businesses and tons of these people that you know about, including our government and many, many others go there and do business, but all of a sudden it’s outrageous that sports athletes do it,” he said during an ESPN press event.
“Having said that, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think our sport needs it. I don’t think it would benefit from it, and I don’t think we should do it, personally.
“But it’s not up to us. Someone else is going to make that — they’re talking about the Next Gen Finals going there, 21 and under. This is just something that I don’t understand why we’re going in that direction, but that’s for another day and another topic.”
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