Saudi Arabia and the ATP are putting a new Masters tennis tournament on a crowded calendar

Saudi Arabia will host a new ATP Masters tournament, likely starting in 2028, in the first addition to the men’s tennis tour’s premium series since its founding 35 years ago.

The ATP announced the formation of a 10th Masters event on Thursday, but ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi wouldn’t commit to a definitive year for the debut or an exact spot on the calendar. This expansion comes as players renew calls to reconsider a long and crowded schedule for the sport.

“All we can say at this stage,” Gaudenzi said on a video conference with reporters, “is that it’s going to be at the beginning of the season … first part of the season.”

He said he would like to put the 56-player, one-week tournament in February, after the Australian Open ends — calling that “the better outcome” — and ideally institute a system with a Middle East swing and South American swing going on during that portion of the year.

This is the latest in a series of moves to bring money from Saudi Arabia into tennis and bring the sport to the kingdom, including the ATP Next Gen Finals for up-and-coming players that is held in Jedda and the WTA Finals for the best women’s tennis players held in Riyadh. The Public Investment Fund also sponsors both the women’s and men’s rankings.

Hall of Famers Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have been among the critics of the sport’s ties to Saudi Arabia because of concerns about LGBTQ+ and women’s rights there.

Gaudenzi said the plan is to launch the Saudi Arabia Masters in 2028, with the dates announced sometime next year.

“The exact position on the calendar is not yet decided,” he said. “Obviously, February is one of the options. … It is a possibility, but not decided yet.”

Danny Townsend, the CEO of SURJ Sports Investment, a PIF company, would not rule out that the new tournament could eventually join the growing ranks of two-week, joint events with both women and men.

“There are benefits from having both men and women playing at the same time. I know there’s uplifts in ticket sales, a bunch of other commercial elements that we would certainly want to better benefit from,” Townsend said. “But that’s all in the future. We’d certainly never say never and explore if it became an option.”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis