Former tennis star Andy Roddick recently shared his thoughts on the newly announced 10th ATP Masters 1000 tournament set to be held in Saudi Arabia. This marks the first expansion of the elite Masters 1000 series since its inception in 1990.
Riyadh, which has already hosted the Six Kings Slam and is slated to host the upcoming WTA Finals, is expected to be the venue for the inaugural edition of this prestigious event in 2028.
On Friday, alongside co-host Jon Wertheim on his podcast, Roddick expressed some skepticism about the non-mandatory tournament’s ability to attract top players such as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. He noted that because participation isn’t compulsory, players will have significant leverage when negotiating appearance fees.
“These appearance fees are going to be massive, and the players have a lot of leverage right now because there’s no chance that Saudi is going to want to have this Masters 1000 and then not have Sinner and Alcaraz show up, and then not have, you know, whoever else show up, right?” Roddick said (4:17).
Adding to this insider perspective, Roddick revealed that players hold the upper hand when it comes to appearance fees for this event. “I’ve been texting with an agent friend of ours who has been on the show before,” he shared. “He says it’s absolutely open season on appearance fees for this non-mandatory tournament. To me, they’re celebrating that as like, ‘Oh, listen, we’re coachable, this is cool, we’re going to just create a new set of rules.’ This is going to be chaos. This is going to be the Wild West as far as appearance fees, which is good for the players.”
The recently concluded Six Kings Slam, which was not an ATP-sanctioned event, featured a staggering appearance fee of $1.5 million. On top of that, the winner, Jannik Sinner, pocketed an additional $4.5 million after defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the finals.
### Key Details About the Saudi Arabia Masters 1000 Tournament
According to Reuters, the Saudi Arabia Masters 1000 will have a 56-player singles main draw, with the competition completed over a single week. Being a non-mandatory event, players have the freedom to decide whether to participate.
The Times reports that the prize pool is expected to be around £5.5 million, aligning with the standard across all Masters 1000 tournaments. Plans are reportedly underway to build a world-class tennis facility in Riyadh to host the event.
Despite these developments, it remains to be seen whether top-ranked players like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will opt to compete in the Middle East if the financial incentives and ranking points do not sufficiently justify their time and commitment.
The introduction of the Saudi Arabia Masters 1000 signifies a significant shift in the ATP calendar and the tennis landscape, promising both opportunities and challenges as the tour expands into new regions.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-andy-roddick-predicts-chaos-massive-appearance-fees-carlos-alcaraz-jannik-sinner-top-stars-saudi-arabia-masters-1000
