Tennis: a $2bn offer from the Saudi Public Investment Fund to merge the ATP & WTA circuits (press)

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has reportedly made a bid to merge the ATP Tour and WTA Tour international tennis circuits for $2bn (€1.83bn), according to the British daily The Telegraph on 12/03/2024. The new mixed circuit could be called the PIF Tour.

• This investment, divided equally ($1bn/€910m each) between the organisers of the men's and women's tours, would be offset by the holding of a new Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of January, during the first week of the current calendar for the two tours. Since 2023, this period has been reserved for the United Cup, a mixed competition launched jointly by the ATP and the WTA, supported by Tennis Australia and held in Australia (in Sydney and Perth in 2024).
• Saudi Arabia would also like to host the Nitto ATP Finals (the ATP's end-of-season tournament), while the WTA Finals are already scheduled to take place in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) in November 2024. The country has also been awarded the right to host the Next Gen ATP Finals, an annual tournament bringing together eight of the world's up-and-coming tennis…