Former world No 1 Andy Roddick has reacted to the news that a new ATP Masters 1000 tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia as early as 2028.
The 2003 US Open champion has revealed how the Saudi Arabian event being non-mandatory could be financially beneficial to players as he also predicted where it will fit into the calendar.
It was confirmed on Thursday that the ATP Tour had agreed the formation of the new Masters 1000 tournament with SURJ Sports Investment, a company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Andy Roddick’s reaction to the Saudi Arabian Masters event
- Andy Roddick has explained that the non-mandatory status of the new Saudi Arabian Masters event will allow players to be paid appearance fees
- The American expects these appearance fees to be “massive” in order to attract the biggest stars, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
- Roddick thinks there are “only two options” for when the event could be held, but he thinks a position in February is by far the most likely
The Saudi Arabian Masters will join the nine existing ATP 1000 tournaments, marking the first expansion of this category of event since it was introduced in 1990.
It has been revealed that the tournament will be non-mandatory, and the singles main draw will feature 56 players and be played over a single week. The Monte Carlo Masters is the only current ATP 1000 event which is not mandatory.
The exact calendar position that the new Saudi event will occupy is yet to be confirmed, as is the venue.
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What Roddick said about appearance fees at the Saudi Arabian Masters
Speaking on his Served podcast, Roddick broke down the financial implications of the non-mandatory status of the Saudi Arabian Masters and declared that there will be “chaos.”
“The protection for the Masters 1000s not to have to pay the players directly is that they’re mandatory and you basically opt in to the tour schedule as an independent contractor,” said Roddick.
“The mandatory events basically hold your participation as a negotiating tool and you have to fall in line with the mandatory things. If it’s non-mandatory, that means that you do not have to play it, contractually, to be a part of the ATP Tour.
“That means 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 whoever else show up, right?
“I’ve been texting with an agent friend of ours who has been on the show before. He says, ‘absolutely open season on appearance fees for this tournament.’
“Non-mandatory, 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 I guess.”
Roddick on the possible schedule positions for the Saudi Arabian Masters
During the same podcast, Roddick weighed in on how the new tournament will impact the ATP Tour calendar.
“There are only two options. One, this is obvious. I have a lot of questions about it. As far as where the calendar goes, pre-empting Australia is what some people are saying. I think that’s difficult,” said the 32-time ATP Tour titlist.
“I’m not sure you can take the thunder… Australia is probably the only thing in tennis that benefits from people actually having time to look forward to it. Otherwise, it’s just a run-on sentence. Also, if you do that, then are you shifting the entire Middle Eastern swing to before that?
“Or are you screwing over the other Middle Eastern tournaments in February, before Indian Wells? I think it has to slot into that February, because then who are you competing with?
“You’re competing with Rotterdam, you’re competing with those tournaments, which seems like an easier competition than the lead-up to Australia. There’s no way, if [Australian Open tournament director] Craig Tiley has a say in this, that it cruises in before Australia, in my opinion.”
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