John McEnroe recently scoffed at the idea that the ATP could partner with Saudi Arabia and the country’s massive sovereign wealth fund.
Don’t count the tennis great as those who favor the recent partnership between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Tour. Front Office Sports wrote on McEnroe’s comments on the subject:
“I wouldn’t encourage it personally, the Saudi thing. I’m not surprised that tennis is being thrown into the mix after what we saw in golf,” McEnroe said Wednesday on a call with reporters. “I don’t think that’s something that we should be pursuing. It’s not in my hands.”
“I don’t know why in the hell tennis would suddenly be; let’s talk to the Saudis after the debacle that you’re watching in golf. To me, it’s comical that it’s even being brought up right now,” added McEnroe, a New York native and seven-time Grand Slam champion.
McEnroe’s heavy rhetoric suggests that the legendary player is unequivocally against any partnership the ATP might pursue with Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, ATP head Andrea Gaudenzi revealed that there had been “positive” discussions between the acclaimed tennis tour and the Saudi-backed PIF. Granted, to this point, it is the only reported inroad on any connection between the ATP and Saudi Arabia.
McEnroe obviously is a huge voice in the sport, and his word carries a lot of weight. But, that said, we saw what Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, among a slew of others, spoke out on the LIV Golf Tour. They just wound up partnering with the PGA Tour anyway, despite a boatload of hypocrisy to go along with it.
This is all to say that it might be surprising if the ATP concedes to John McEnroe, just given the previous precedents set and the way that the money is going. It may not make it right, but it’s reality.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022