Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with ATP. The partnership will see PIF become the official naming partner of the ATP Rankings, at the end of which Year-End ATP World No. 1, presented by PIF, will be crowned at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
PIF will partner with ATP tour in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing and the Nitto ATP Finals.
The ATP tour is the worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals founded in 1990.
Tennis is developing to be a popular sport in the Kingdom, with a 46 per cent increase in registered players between 2019 and 2023.
Saudi Arabia is on a mission to reach its target of increasing the sports sector’s contribution to GDP to 0.6 per cent by 2030, up from the current 0.2 per cent. PIF has established SRJ Sports Investments to drive the growth of the sports sector in the Mena region.
With ATP’s knowledge in the field, PIF said it will develop more tennis opportunities for young Saudis.
Last August, the company purchased a minority share in the Professional Fighters League, an organisation for mixed martial arts, with a reported value of $100 million.
In 2022, the wealth fund introduced the LIV Golf circuit, entering competition with the established PGA Tour. After a prolonged legal dispute, the two tours resolved their differences in June 2023 by agreeing to merge their interests.
Saudi Arabia will host the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah for the next five years.
