On Thursday, the ATP made an announcement many had been expecting for some time now.
It was revealed that Saudi Arabia will host a brand new Masters 1000 event from 2028 onwards, likely to fall within the Middle East swing in February, annually.
The Gulf state has extended its influence in tennis in recent years, with Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, now home to the WTA Finals and the Six Kings Slam exhibition event, while Jeddah serves as the host city to the Next Gen ATP Finals.
With an evidently growing interest in the sport, it was only a matter of time before the country secured a big tour-level event on the ATP calendar.
Saudi Arabia’s new tournament is the first expansion of the ATP Masters series, which was created during the 1990 season.
ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, has described the new addition as a ‘proud moment’ for the tour, but for many players, the announcement was not exactly aptly timed.
The ongoing issue the new Masters event is contributing to
As the season enters its latter stages, both the ATP and WTA tours have recently seen a number of their stars call an early end to their 2025 campaigns.
On the women’s side, Elina Svitolina, Barbora Krejcikova and Emma Raducanu have all revealed they will not appear until 2026, while the men’s game won’t see Jack Draper or Frances Tiafoe until the new year.
That is to name but a few, with various other players citing either burnout or injury as they sit the rest of the season out, one of whom is Holger Rune, whose year ended in heartbreak.
Rune suffered an Achilles injury during his semifinal clash with Ugo Humbert at the Stockholm Open, for which he has recently undergone successful surgery.
In the aftermath of the Dane’s retirement from Stockholm, Britain’s Draper took to social media to voice his frustrations with the current state of the ATP Tour.
The world number nine said: “The tour and the calendar have to adapt if any of us are gonna achieve some sort of longevity.”
Taylor Fritz echoed Draper’s sentiments and claimed tennis is seeing ‘more injuries and burnout now more than ever’.
The tour is incredibly demanding, and for the top ATP players, it is not helped by the fact that eight of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments are mandatory.
While each Masters event is spread out enough throughout the year for this not to become too much of a problem, in recent years the ATP have added to player workload even more by making seven of nine competitions 12-day events.
The 12-day format has been unpopular for a while now, but the ATP continue to lengthen the premium events in the calendar, with the Cincinnati Open and the Canadian Open the most recent tournaments to be expanded.
- 2023 – Italian Open, Madrid Open, and Shanghai Masters become 12-day events
- 2025 – Cincinnati Open and Canadian Open become 12-day events
Assuming the rest of the calendar remains the same, with the new addition to the Masters series in Saudi Arabia, the first five months of the ATP schedule will consist of six Masters events and two Grand Slams, most of which are mandatory.
The new-look tournament can, of course, work with a reduction in the schedule, or potentially a longer offseason, as seen in almost every other sport.
With the ATP’s persistence in filling the calendar, however, that, as of now, does not look likely to be the case, and it could come at a large detriment to the players.
The awkward placement of Saudi Arabia’s Masters in the calendar
February is one of the few months in the tennis calendar that does not feature either a Grand Slam or a Masters 1000 tournament.
The month serves as an ideal period for players to recover from the Australian Open and prepare for the busy clay season.
Should Saudi Arabia’s Masters fall within February as expected, all of a sudden, the tour increases the risk of seeing its top players suffer from burnout or injury before the second major of the year.
Not only is this bad news for the players, but it hinders the sport’s ability to reach new fans.
Roland Garros and Wimbledon are two of the biggest events in tennis, and if by the time both roll around, several big names have already withdrawn, the product becomes less appealing to casual viewers.
The ATP will have to think carefully as it introduces more tournaments with every passing season, as, at this moment in time, something has got to give.
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