Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert is all in for tennis partnering up with Saudi Arabia as he believes that’s the best thing for the players and something that would finally give the players across the ATP and WTA Tours to be compensated as they deserve.
In late 2023, the rumors began to swirl around that the Grand Slams and Masters events may be looking to make a proposal to the Saudis that would see the formation of an elite circuit which would be called the “Premium Tour.” But under that model, ATP and WTA tournaments from the 500 and 250 would suffer big-time because all the top and best players would switch to the Premium Tour.
The ATP and WTA noticed what was happening behind the scenes and reacted by starting to work on their own proposal to the Saudis. And a couple of days ago, The Telegraph reported that the Saudis gave the ATP and WTA a $2 billion offer with a 90-day expiration date to merge the men’s and women’s Tours. If accepted, the new Tour would be called the “PIF Tour” but the four Grand Slams would not be a part of it as it stands now.
Under that model, male and female players would be paid equally and it would include a Masters 1000 event in the first week of the season and the WTA Finals would also be staged in Riyadh.
Gauff’s coach Gilbert on why a potential Saudi deal could benefit tennis big-time
Gilbert, who famously worked with Andre Agassi for eight years and has been Gauff’s coach since last summer, believes it is time the tennis players start seeing a really notable increase in prize money.
“One thing is for sure, obviously the top players are doing well but the one thing in golf that has dramatically changed is the No. 100 player, you know, 10 years ago in tennis, we were making similar money. Now the No. 100 player in golf is making more than the No. 10 player in tennis,” Gilbert said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“So sometimes competition isn’t good, sometimes competition is great. So, hopefully, besides this one Saudi offer with the ATP and WTA, now the Grand Slams are going to say, ‘You know what, we don’t want this to happen, we’re going to get our own tour and try to get you on board.’
Gilbert, who famously worked with Andre Agassi for eight years and has been Gauff’s coach since last summer, believes it is time the tennis players start seeing a really notable increase in prize money.
“One thing is for sure, obviously the top players are doing well but the one thing in golf that has dramatically changed is the No. 100 player, you know, 10 years ago in tennis, we were making similar money. Now the No. 100 player in golf is making more than the No. 10 player in tennis,” Gilbert said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“So sometimes competition isn’t good, sometimes competition is great. So, hopefully, besides this one Saudi offer with the ATP and WTA, now the Grand Slams are going to say, ‘You know what, we don’t want this to happen, we’re going to get our own tour and try to get you on board.'”
While tennis striking a major deal with Saudi Arabia seems inevitable, some are heavily opposing tennis getting forming a partnership with the Saudis, citing concerns regarding the country’s human right record. When asked to share his thoughts that, Gilbert noted that several other major sports are already partners with Saudi Arabia.
“You’re not going to please everybody on this decision. There’s going to be some people who are totally against it but this is a player’s decision, what they’re going to decide, how they’re going to move forward,” Gilbert said.
“And they are taking the money doing it in boxing, UFC, Formula 1, golf has done it.”
