Two major tennis tournaments are ‘up for sale’ – could they end up in Saudi Arabia?

Kevin Palmer
Italy's Jannik Sinner holds the Butch Buchholz trophy after winning the Miami Open
Italy's Jannik Sinner holds the Butch Buchholz trophy after winning the Miami Open

The major tennis tournaments in Miami and Madrid appear to be ‘up for sale’, amid suggestions that one of them may be moved to Saudi Arabia in what could be a big move for the ATP Tour.

Endeavor, the global media and entertainment giant, has started a review of events it currently oversees, including the Miami Open and Madrid Open tennis tournaments.

The two events are one of the nine men’s ATP Masters 1000 events each year, while they are also included among the elite WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour.

This news comes after IMG was sold to TKO for a sum of $3.25billion alongside other companies On Location and Professional Bull Riders.
IMG has been running the Miami and Madrid tournaments, but it seems the new owners of the company are considering selling the two tennis tournaments.

That will inevitably spark speculation that they could be sold to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), as they are believed to be keen to have a major ATP Tour and WTA Tour event in their kingdom every year.

There have been suggestions that a Saudi Masters could take place in the first week of January, which would serve as a warm-up event for top players ahead of the Australian Open, but that proposal could change if the PIF can acquire the Miami or Madrid tournaments.

The Madrid Open was sold to IMG for a reported $380milllion in April 2022 and the group acquired the Miami Open for around $300m in 1999.
Saudi sporting chiefs highlighted their ambition to break into tennis by staging the recent Six Kings Slam event that was won by Jannik Sinner, who took home a record-breaking $6million winners’ cheque for just three days of work on the court.

Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune were also paid handsomely for their role in the exhibition event.

With the WTA Finals and the ATP Next Gen Finals also being staged in Saudi Arabia, their interest in hosting major tennis events is clear an ATP Masters 1000 tournament will be at the top of their wish list.

Danielle Collins won the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open
Danielle Collins won the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open

Saudi’s PIF could acquire the Miami and Madrid Masters events and may look to move one or even both of them to Saudi Arabia, with huge prize money likely to be on offer to players if that move was permitted by the ATP and WTA Tours.

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Paul Annacone, a former leading player and coach to Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, suggested tennis chiefs needed to ensure the events were not moved to a point in the calendar that would challenge players who are already appealing for more respectful scheduling of tournaments.

“There are lots of rumours about these two events and Madrid has recently been sold already and now it appears to be on the block again,” Annacone told the Tennis Channel.

“Miami is in a relatively new venue and I for one hope that if IMG Endeavour needs to get rid of it, that the new owners keep the events in relatively similar geographical locations.

“It makes sense for Miami to be the week after Indian Wells in the States and Madrid needs to be somewhere in Europe on the clay.”

The news comes after TKO Group — the holding company of WWE and UFC — announced an agreement with parent company Endeavor to acquire PBR, On Location, and IMG in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.25 billion.

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