SAUDI ARABIA PUSH INTO TENNIS

FRENCH Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz was set to take on Australian Open and US Open winner Jannik Sinner in the “Six Kings Slam” final later on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia’s push into tennis took off last year with its first ATP Tour event — the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah — and exhibition matches pitting Djokovic against Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka against Ons Jabeur.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced in April that Riyadh would host the next three editions of the Tour Finals, featuring the top eight singles players and doubles teams.

The 2024 edition will be staged from 2-9 November.

Earlier this year, Nadal was named ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation.

The new role will involve “dedicated time in the kingdom each year” to grow the sport as well as the development of a new Rafael Nadal Academy, the Saudi federation said when the announcement was made in January.

The tennis world’s embrace of Saudi Arabia has drawn some criticism, notably from greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova who have voiced concern about the kingdom’s record of human rights abuses.

Djokovic said he did not know if he, like Nadal, would spend more time in Saudi Arabia post-retirement but he said he was focussing on what he described as the positives there.

“There’s always going to be criticism. You can always focus on good things or bad things,” he said.

“You know, it just depends on the perspective, like anything in life.” — SuperSport.

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