Italian Tennis Federation reportedly makes $500m offer to buy Madrid Masters with hopes of hosting a fifth Grand Slam

Although the Madrid Open is one of the most prestigious clay-court tournaments on the ATP circuit, there have been talks that the event may be changing ownership sometime in the future.

According to La Stampa, a national newspaper published in Turin, the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) has made an offer of $550M to IMG, the current owners of the Madrid Open Masters event. Their alleged goal is to acquire that week of the Tour calendar so they can increase the length of the Rome Open Masters event to two full weeks, with the dream of hosting a Grand Slam sometime in the future.

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Sale of Madrid Open will not be without controversy

Last October, there were talks of the possible sale of certain IMG events owned by Endeavor, including the Madrid Open and the Miami Open. However, such a move could lead to controversy as sale of the Madrid Open will likely get major resistance from Spain.

The mixed tennis Masters event is the most high-profile tennis tournament in the country, and is a substantial source of tourism and revenue for the economy. Furthermore, there will be questions on where and when a new ATP Masters/WTA 1000 event will held.

Nonetheless, Endeavor or the Madrid Open organizers have yet to comment on La Stampa's report.

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