Novak Djokovic has shared his thoughts about the possible breakaway tour in tennis, which has been the subject of immense interest in the past couple of months.
Djokovic is not the first and certainly not the last to comment about the increasing possibility that the ATP and WTA tours could be withdrawn and replaced by a more cohesive tennis tour, possibly backed by the Saudi Arabian riches, in a style akin to that of LIV Golf.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as a sporting powerhouse in recent years and is already looking to close deals with the major tennis bodies to host multiple Tour-level tournaments by 2025. It is reported that a 10th Masters 1000 tournament will be held in the Gulf Kingdom by then.
Moreover, the WTA Finals is rumored to have a new and long-term home beginning in 2024, which has not been well received in many tennis quarters. But even against the backdrop of sportswashing concerns, it doesn't look like anything will derail Saudi Arabia's incoming investment in tennis.
The threat of a possible takeover of tennis by Saudi Arabia's PIF is starting to cause panic within the tennis leadership teams. When questioned to comment, Djokovic explained he remains uninformed about these rumors but denied that something groundbreaking could happen in 2024, considering the calendar is planned.
"As far as I know, the 2024 calendar is out, so that's not happening this year. I don't know exactly which elite tour you're referring to. There are many rumors out there, but I think as long as there are rumors and no factual, so to say, evidence out there and concrete formalized discussions on the table, I don't think it's worth talking about it."
A few days ago, Djokovic spent two days of his preseason schedule in Saudi Arabia, playing an exhibition match with Carlos Alcaraz, which was well attended by the fans at the Kingdom Arena, and spoke glowingly about seeing a lot more tennis events there.
Even though the Serb did not delve into any details about the new "elite tour", he stated that he has always championed change and improvement. Djokovic revealed the grim stat that tennis is not keeping with the pace of the current growth of the modern world, pointing out that the average tennis fan is a person possibly in their retirement age.
"I'm generally always supportive of improving the sport. I have said this many times before, that I think that tennis is not using its full potential. We are one of the most globally watched and popular sports in the world, but I think that we have been quite conservative and conventional in certain aspects, and that unfortunately hasn't really been a great appeal to the younger audience."
"I have seen some stats that are showing that the average age of, you know, the tennis support worldwide is quite old, so we need to, I think, which is very nice that we have audience across all board in terms of age, and don't get me wrong, I'm big supportive of our history and tradition and everything."
"I think we should always nurture that, but I think we need to try to adjust to the modern times and trying to understand what the younger audience wants and really make the tennis more appealing, yeah, to that group."
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