In October 2025, the ATP made a major move into Saudi Arabia by partnering with PIF’s Surj Sports Investment to create a brand-new Masters 1000 tournament. Although the event is scheduled to debut in 2028, questions and skepticism are already building, with players continuing to express concern about an ever-expanding and demanding season.

Earlier today, @_claymagazine shared on X comments from Daria Kasatkina addressing Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in professional tennis. The 28-year-old admitted that players have little control over these decisions as Saudi events continue to appear on both the WTA and ATP calendars.

“As players, we don’t have much say in issues like that,” she said. “Our organizations want to do business and, unfortunately, we have no vote,” added the world No. 48 while speaking in Brisbane.

Kasatkina was coming off a strong start to her season, defeating Maria Sakkari 7-6(2), 6-4 in nearly two hours to move into the second round, where she will face Jaqueline Cristian.

Beginning the year with momentum, she made it clear that players are focused on doing their jobs while hoping for positive change. “We are players, we want to play tennis, we need to earn money, support our families,” she said.

“So I would say that we are at an intermediate point. We are the ones who have to go and play; it is our job, and we are quite limited in terms of where we can or cannot go,” Kasatkina pointed.

For Daria Kasatkina, switching her sporting allegiance to Australia in March 2025 marked a major turning point, both professionally and personally. The 28-year-old has been outspoken against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and cited safety concerns as a gay person who opposes the war as her main reason for leaving.

“The main things are that I have been accepted for the person I am. I can feel safe here,” the 28-year-old said. And that’s exactly what she has not returned to Russia since February 2022 and spent the years before gaining permanent residency living in Dubai.

Despite the controversy, the former world No. 8 believes Saudi Arabia hosting major sporting events can create meaningful opportunities for young women in the country.

“The positive thing here is that we can go to a country like that and show the girls who are there, trying to play tennis or practice other sports, which is actually possible,” she explained.

“If we simply cut that opportunity, they probably won’t move forward,” she added. “They were already in a complicated situation, and now we would be saying: nothing is left for you. But if we can support those girls and show them that opportunities are closer than they think, I see that as a positive thing.”

While Saudi Arabia’s growing presence on the men’s tour has largely drawn criticism over money, the debate on the women’s side has gone much deeper, focusing on what it means to validate a nation where civil rights for women and LGBTQ+ people remain restricted.

Interestingly, former world No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has also weighed in, saying his concern is not only Saudi Arabia, but the broader question of priorities.

Saudi Arabia’s ATP move sparks ex-pro backlash

Earlier this month, in an interview with Saša Ozm, Clay Magazine shared Yevgeny Kafelnikov’s reaction to the new Saudi-based Masters 1000 event set to join the calendar in 2028, reportedly at the expense of several ATP 250 tournaments.

“You need to promote the game where it’s already popular,” the 51-year-old said.

Kafelnikov stressed that his concern goes beyond Saudi Arabia itself and is really about priorities. He pointed to South America as an example, noting that countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Chile have deep tennis cultures and deserve continued support from the Tour.

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His message was simple: the sport should reward regions that have followed, supported, and grown tennis for decades.

So when it came specifically to Saudi Arabia, Kafelnikov said he was not against the idea in principle. However, he strongly criticized what he sees as money accelerating influence within the sport. In his view, earning a Masters 1000 event largely because of financial power “isn’t fair,” especially when other regions have backed the ATP Tour for generations.

“But for them to just jump in and get an event because they have a sh-tload of money, they can use banknotes instead of toilet paper… that’s not fair,” he said.

He also questioned the logic of removing long-standing tournaments. Kafelnikov argued that events which have “sustained and promoted the Tour for forty years” should not be pushed aside simply because another market can offer more money, warning that such a trend puts the future of tennis at risk.

The debate also touches on player workload. You see, Monte Carlo is currently the only non-mandatory Masters 1000, and under current rules, players who skip the future Saudi event would not lose their bonus pool share and could make up ranking points elsewhere.

The Saudi Masters 1000 is expected to be a one-week tournament, with the host city yet to be announced. It will be part of a revised 2028 calendar that could end at least a week earlier as the ATP looks to ease congestion late in the season.

Meanwhile, the quiet reduction of ATP 250 events is already happening. The number has fallen from 42 in 2022 to 30 and is expected to remain there through 2026. During the ATP Finals, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi also said only ten weeks per year will be reserved for lower-tier tournaments, signaling that further cuts may be coming.