During these days, the tennis world has moved to Spain for the Mutua Madrid Open. Areej Mutabagani, president of the Saudi Arabian federation, has come to the Caja Mágica because she wants part of the future of the world racket to be spent there, and she wants the Middle East to host a new Masters 1000.
Areej Mutabagani, president of the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation.
The Magic Box, in addition to having the best tennis players in the world on its courts, also brings together top tennis executives such as the Australian Craig Tiley or the aforementioned Saudi Arabian Areej Mutabagani. On the table, although the 2025 calendar is already defined, is the possibility of the Middle Eastern country hosting a Masters 1000 after already organizing the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah and the WTA Finals in Riyadh from this year until 2026. In addition, Rafa Nadal has recently been appointed as ambassador of the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation.
SAUDI ARABIA AND INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
The Dakar was one of Saudi Arabia ‘s first big bets in its offensive to take over part of the sports world. The Arab country managed to boost the profitability of the event from $1.3 million in profit in the last edition in Peru to $1.8 million in the first edition in Saudi Arabia (2021).
The commitment to this competition has been solid, renewing its commitment to host it until 2029 and is part of a motorsport strategy. Formula 1, Formula E and Extreme E are some of the races that are already being held in the country.
In addition, Saudi investment in soccer in recent years has been very strong. From the Spanish Super Cup to investing 90 million for signings for their league, such as Neymar. With the arrival of players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema or Firmino, the Saudi soccer league has grown a lot among the international public. In addition to that, the growing investment they are showing is very strong, for example, from 9 to 17 national teams in the country, and the number of coaches’ licenses has also skyrocketed.
The culmination of this investment would be a World Cup in 2034. FIFA has not confirmed or denied this, but as with Qatar, the World Cup would presumably be held in winter. For this supposed event, the intention is to build four new stadiums and also take advantage of the opportunity to improve the country’s communications. Another major investment is in women’s soccer, with more than 1,000 licensed players and female leaders in the highest positions in the country’s soccer institutions.
Tennis and racquetball is now another of the bets they have decided to offer to the world. It will be interesting to see how, like other sporting disciplines, tennis turns to the Middle East with an event of global magnitude.
