Saudi investment in tennis won’t replicate golf’s woes: Craig Tiley
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Australia’s Nick Kyrgios welcomed the news and said it would bring players the financial rewards they deserved.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MELBOURNE – Australian Open chief executive Craig Tiley believes any Saudi Arabian investment in tennis is unlikely to have the same impact as the country’s disruptive entry into golf, simply because talks are focused on bolstering the current structures of the game.
ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi told the Financial Times last week that he had held “positive” discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and other potential investors.
Talk of a potential partnership comes after the PIF-backed LIV Golf circuit engaged in a bitter two-year dispute with the PGA Tour before announcing an agreement to merge
“What’s different to what we’re seeing (in other sports) is that this is an investment in the current structure of the game and not an investment in an alternative option,” Tiley said on Tuesday.
“But like everything in the world, there’s lots of changes that are always going on. So you’ve got to watch what’s going on and stay close to it. But, ultimately, that’s a decision for the men’s and the women’s tour.”
Saudi Arabia has pumped huge amounts of money into football, Formula One and boxing in recent years and media reports say Jeddah is bidding to host the 2023 ATP Next Gen Finals, which feature the tour’s top Under-21 players.
Since the tournament’s inception in 2017, it has been held in Milan but the ATP Tour announced in March that it has launched a global bid process to determine the future host from 2023-2027.
Critics have accused Saudi Arabia of using the PIF to engage in “sportwashing” in the face of heavy criticism of the country’s human-rights record.
But some of the world’s top players have already featured in the Diriyah Cup exhibition event on the outskirts of Riyadh and world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz said earlier this week he had “no doubts” he would compete in Saudi Arabia at some point.
Australian star Nick Kyrgios welcomed the news of the ATP’s discussions on investment from Saudi Arabia and said it would bring players the financial rewards they deserved.
“Finally. They see the value,” the 28-year-old tweeted above a report of the talks between the Saudis and ATP. “We are going to get paid what we deserve to get paid. Sign me up.” REUTERS
