Tennis’ power brokers had found their perfect partner in the Middle East, but suddenly they faced a problem they had not anticipated: despite being the wealthiest region on the planet, it is also one of the most geopolitically unstable.
Less than a year after the ATP announced a new Masters 1000 tournament in Saudi Arabia for 2028, the Middle East has been subjected to almost uninterrupted military attacks. The postponement of the 2026 Six Kings Slam, the lucrative exhibition event in Riyadh, announced this Thursday, is the latest evidence of that instability.
“The decision reflects Riyadh Season’s commitment to delivering sporting events of the highest standards, following an assessment of the organisational and logistical challenges associated with staging the tournament and their potential impact on the quality of the spectator experience,” the tournament said in a statement.
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The exhibition, initially scheduled for late October, was postponed until 27 December following a terrorist attack by Yemen’s Houthi movement on Riyadh airport, which left 13 people dead and more than 300 injured. The Saudi Arabian government responded with a series of air strikes against more than 100 military targets in rebel-controlled areas, reigniting tensions in the region.
In March, the tennis world had already experienced the region’s fragility first-hand: the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran erupted just as the ATP tournaments in Doha and Dubai were coming to an end, leaving players stranded in their hotels with no way to leave the country. Holger Rune, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Felix Auger-Aliassime were among those affected.
“It was terrible. We didn’t get much sleep. Everything seems more brutal in the dark, with fireballs in the sky and constant explosions. We spent a lot of time at reception and they were very kind. Eventually, we went back to our rooms and slept, but Holger was very frightened,” Rune’s mother told TV2 Sport at the time.
That insecurity prompted the WTA to make an emergency decision to move this year’s Finals to Indian Wells, despite its contract with Saudi Arabia covering the 2026 edition. In fact, the tournament will not return to Riyadh, with Charlotte already confirmed as the host city for 2027.
“If, instead of putting all his efforts into developing missiles, Kim Jong-un had managed to turn North Korea into an economic powerhouse, the ATP would soon be proudly announcing the Pyongyang Masters 1000.”
@sebastianfest on Saudi’s Masters 1000.
https://t.co/wy2QqKPM0n
— Clay (@_claymagazine) October 24, 2025
In the ATP’s case, the relationship is even deeper and more complex. Not only will a new Masters 1000 be added in Saudi Arabia in 2028, but the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is also in the process of acquiring licences for other tournaments to restructure them in its favour. Buenos Aires will switch surfaces in 2029, while Acapulco could even disappear from the calendar. Metz, Chengdu and Hong Kong are among the other tournaments acquired by SURJ Sports Investment, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s PIF. The fund is also now one of the ATP’s main sponsors.
But everything now seems up in the air. While the ATP and PIF continue pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy, the region’s geopolitical situation remains impossible to predict, affecting sports well beyond tennis.
Formula 1 cancelled this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and moved the Bahrain Grand Prix to Malaysia, while the season-ending races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi remain in doubt. The NBA did not stage any pre-season games in the Middle East after four consecutive years of doing so, and the Finalissima between Argentina and Spain was also cancelled because of the war.
In 2028, the Middle East is expected to become one of the driving forces behind the tennis calendar, or at least that is what the ATP hopes. The big question is whether those ambitions will ever become reality.
