A Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia from 2028
A tenth Masters 1000 tournament will be held “as early as 2028” in Saudi Arabia: this was announced at a press conference in Paris by the ATP and Surj Sports Investment, the company responsible for sports investment for the Saudi Public Fund (PIF). Played on concrete courts, the tournament will be scheduled “at the’beginning of the season” in a city yet to be determined and will last “one week” said ATP President Andrea Gaudenzi. Created in 1990, the Masters 1000 category includes the nine – and soon 10 – most important tournaments on the ATP circuit after the four Grand Slams.
This new Masters 1000 –which will not be compulsory, unlike most others –will be “more than just an event: it is an’affirmation of our ambitions” to make Saudi Arabia a key venue for world sports, said Danny Townsend, ad of Surj Sports Investment. This additional date in the calendar comes at the end of a season marked by complaints from some players about the fast pace of the Atp tour, whose tournaments run from January through November. “Our current system gives players a lot of freedom and options” in choosing which tournaments to participate in, Gaudenzi said.
“The disadvantage is that they obviously cannot play the Grand Slams, the Masters 1000, the’Atp 500 and the’Atp 250, as well as team competitions (Davis Cup, Laver Cup, United Cup, etc.) and exhibitions such as the Six Kings Slam” which recently brought together Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has increased its presence in world sports, particularly tennis, in recent years and since 2024 has hosted the Wta Masters in Riyadh, the tournament that brings together the top eight players from last season’s women’s tour.
The PIF has also added its name to the ATP rankings and has formed partnerships with several Masters 1000 tournaments, such as Indian Wells, Miami, and Madrid. If the creation of a tenth Masters 1000 does not threaten the existing nine tournaments in the short term, according to Gaudenzi, smaller events such as the’ATP 250 are more at risk. “Our goal is to try to reduce the number of tournaments – explained the’former Italian tennis player. We have already started to do this: when I took office in’early 2020, there’were 38 250 tournaments on the calendar. Since then this number has decreased significantly” with 30 tournaments in this category scheduled for 2025.
