A new ATP Masters 1000 tournament will be added to the tennis calendar from 2028 and staged in Saudi Arabia.
A 56-man field will contest a one-week event, most likely in February, in another sign of the increasing pulling power of the Gulf state.
Saudi Arabia already hosts the WTA Finals and the Next Gen ATP Finals, and its Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the official naming partner of both the ATP and WTA rankings.
However, with players expressing so much concern about the length of the season and the number of events they play, the new tournament will not be mandatory.
“We are dealing with players who are independent contractors, so ultimately they are free to choose their own schedule,” said ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.
“They also play outside of the system, and we saw this last week with the Six Kings Slam exhibition [in Saudi Arabia].
“I do agree the off-season is too short and I don’t think it’s just too short for the players, but I also think it is too short for the fans, who at some point need to take a break from our sport.”
This is the first time the Masters 1000 category has been expanded since the birth of the concept in 1990.
The Saudi Arabia event will join the existing 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Canada (which is rotated between Toronto and Montreal), Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris.
What does this mean for player workload?
Monte Carlo is currently the only Masters 1000 which is not mandatory for the players.
If a player skips the new Saudi event, his share of the annual bonus pool would not be affected and, under the current rules, he would have the opportunity to make up some of the ranking points conceded at another tournament.
Seven of the existing nine Masters events are now staged over 12 days, which has proved unpopular with many players.
The new Saudi tournament – at a venue still to be announced – will last just a week.
It will form part of a 2028 schedule, which will have a slightly different look and possibly finish at least a week earlier as the ATP tries to streamline the end-of-season tournaments.
“Obviously, to control the off-season we need to be in the same room with the Grand Slams, and the ITF and the WTA – which is not the case, and is something I’ve been pushing for four years,” Gaudenzi continued.
“I also have to notice that in today’s world there’s a lot more money, which means there is a lot more opportunity – and there is a lot more temptation to play more and elsewhere.
“But ultimately the top players in our sport have had the ability to say no and prioritise Slams, Masters and the ATP Finals mainly – that’s how they are going to be remembered.”
Players have previously criticised the already congested tennis calendar, with Carlos Alcaraz saying in September 2024: “They are going to kill us in some way.”
Earlier this month, British number one Jack Draper said the tour and the calendar has to “adapt” for players to achieve career longevity.
His words came after Holger Rune became the latest high-profile player to have his season ended prematurely by injury, joining the likes of Britain’s Emma Raducanu, Australia’s Daria Kasatkina, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Spain’s Paula Badosa on the women’s WTA Tour.
On Tuesday, Novak Djokovic pulled out of the upcoming Paris Masters, having been hampered by injury in his most recent ATP tournament, the Shanghai Masters.
Where will the tournament fit in the calendar?
It is more than eighteen months since bidding invitations were issued to Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Australia, with the decision to choose Saudi one of the worst kept secrets in the sport.
A 10th Masters event was always envisaged but – until the rules were changed in a vote earlier this year – would have had to be staged in either the first week of the year or on grass before Wimbledon.
Now, though, it could take place any time, and is expected to be staged in February, when the ATP already visits the Gulf region for events in Doha and Dubai.
But the ATP is not confirming that publicly because the date is guaranteed to upset someone.
Staging the tournament in Saudi Arabia in the first week of the year would be considered a hostile gesture by Tennis Australia, as most of its leading men would no longer play in the country in the lead up to the Australian Open.
Scheduling it in February could divert players away from traditional clay court events in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, and European indoor tournaments like the one in Rotterdam.
One favoured solution is to create two streams of February tournaments – one in the Middle East and the other in South America – with the European events moving to later in the year.
It is not yet known how much prize money the Saudi tournament will offer, but the ATP sets a minimum prize money for all Masters 1000 events.
Next week’s Paris Masters, which also has a 56-man field, is offering the minimum of 6,128,940 euros (£5,328,338).
Tournaments are allowed to pay more in prize money – as long as the increase is distributed evenly throughout the draw.
The Indian Wells Masters this year offered an extra $500,000 (£374,650), but it is rare for Masters 1000 events to offer more than the minimum required.
Will there be a women’s tournament in Saudi in the future?
There is as of yet no suggestion the new Saudi tournament will involve women and become a seventh ATP and WTA 1000 combined event.
There are currently no further licences available for WTA 1000 events, and unless one was sold, existing owners – including those in Doha and Dubai – would have the ability to veto any expansion plans.
But it is a possibility in future.
“We’re very cognisant of serving both the men’s and women’s game,“ said Danny Townsend, the chief executive of SURJ Sports Investment, which is a PIF company.
“Obviously having them on at the same time, or at least in sequence, in Saudi Arabia would be great. That wasn’t possible at this point in time, but we would certainly never say never and explore it if it’s going to become an option.”
Saudi Arabia has invested huge amounts of money into football, golf, Formula 1 and boxing in recent years.
But the nation has long been criticised for its poor human rights record, particularly about its treatment of women and criminalisation of homosexuality.
The 2024 WTA Finals marked the first time Saudi Arabia has hosted a major women’s sport event.
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