ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi speaks to The National's @ReemAbulleil about plans to expand in Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom looks to stage bigger events across professional tennis
"Having civil war doesn't help": ATP Chief Andrea Gaudenzi issues defiant response amid breakaway tour talks
Tennis NewsFriday, 08 December 2023 at 22:30
The recent information about a possible parallel tennis tour to the ATP tournaments has triggered a response from ATP Chief Andrea Gaudenzi due to the threat of the most significant change in this sport in years.
The Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) intends to continue making substantial investments in sports, as it has done in football and golf. This time, tennis is in their sights, and they are poised to invest a considerable amount of money. There have been rumors for several weeks that the ATP could include a tenth Masters 1000 event in Saudi Arabia in the weeks leading up to the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, serving as preparation.
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According to recent reports, the Saudi investment could be substantial, and the four Grand Slam events could potentially join forces with the Masters 1000 to create a separate tour featuring the world's top tennis players. The current head of the ATP Tour, Andrea Gaudenzi, has offered his response to the situation.
“I think that generally there is a lot of noise in that regard,” he said when asked about a breakaway tour.
“Ultimately, whatever was written in that article, it’s definitely the concept of focusing on a premium product, which will mean the Slams and the Masters and the premium product, all together combined, is a very powerful proposition for the consumers. That I agree with 100 per cent,” he said.
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“Obviously, I don’t know, different people probably come up with different ideas on how to get there. I’m 100 per cent pro unity and pro finding solutions through conversations in a room. I strongly believe we can agree a lot more than we actually believe, when you’re together,” Gaudenzi added.
“Because ultimately we are aligned. We are all pushing for tennis to be stronger and growing, vis-à-vis the other sports and vis-à-vis the other entertainment properties. So we’re on the same side, we’re on the same team – that’s team tennis. Having civil war doesn’t help.”
“We are exploring a number of different opportunities. We want to work with Saudi. I think we had very good relations the last couple of years and very interesting discussions,” ATP chief claimed.
“They have expressed the willingness and the desire to do more in sport and in tennis. I think the biggest challenge on our side is the calendar. In all honesty, it’s very tight, it’s very jammed,”
“But the desire for us to actually be here and be in the region, because we value the Middle East a lot, is there. I think we’re going to have to work it out together in phases or we’re looking at all opportunities. We don’t have the solutions at the moment, but we’re definitely going to keep discussing with all the parties,” Gaudenzi concluded.
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