With PIF reportedly exiting LIV Golf, is tennis next
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PIF is reportedly ending its involvement in LIV Golf by the end of the year.
LIV Golf, which lured away some of the world’s best PGA golfers with huge sums of money, has been riddled in controversy since it began in 2022. However, golf is not the only sport with heavy PIF influence.
In the past five years, PIF has immersed itself in professional tennis. Are those relationships in jeopardy also?
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How PIF became entwined in ATP and WTA Tours
PIF stands for the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. It has been in existence since the 1970s.
On the ATP and WTA Tours, PIF is the naming partner for the player rankings, updated weekly throughout the 11-month tennis season.
PIF will host its first ATP Masters 1000 level tournament in Saudi Arabia beginning in 2028. The Six Kings Slam, an ATP exhibition also held in Saudi Arabia, featuring six of the top names in tennis, concluded its second year in 2025 with a record setting purse of $6 million. (Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Sinner in both the 2024 and 2025 editions.)
Since 2024, the WTA Finals are played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, that relationship is ending after the 2026 edition. The WTA reportedly will move the 2027 event to a yet to be disclosed location believed to be in either Europe or North America.
PIF’s involvement in tennis has been controversial especially on the WTA side because of the reported treatment of women in Saudi Arabia. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were among those who questioned the WTA decision to partner with PIF to host the WTA Finals.
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Why is PIF in tennis
PIF’s presence in professional tennis has always been explained as a response to the surging popularity of the sport in Saudi Arabia. It has sponsorships at prestigious ATP and WTA tournaments outside of Saudi Arabai including Indian Wells. Saudi Arabia s Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of several premier sponsors for the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, as seen on Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, Calif., on March 14, 2024.
Despite the political pushback that has ebbed and flowed over the years, as long as tennis is generating revenue for PIF, it will presumably remain deeply entrenched in the sport.
