Jessica Pegula thinks it is just a matter of time before a LIV-style tennis tour happens in tennis.
In 2021, Saudi Arabia got into the golf world after it launched their own LIV Golf series. After some of the biggest golf names transitioned to the LIV tour, the PGA softened its stance and agreed to merge with the LIV tour.
Over the last couple of months, there have been rumors indicating that Saudi Arabia may be looking to create a LIV-style tennis tour for elite players. But if that happens, one of the biggest question marks would be if players competing on a Saudi-backed tour would be able to also compete in Grand Slams.
“I think it’s inevitable, to be honest. There’s a lot of talks, I feel like there has been for the past year or so, I feel like it’s going to happen eventually because money talks,” Pegula said, via the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“They have infinite amounts of money and they seem to have been involved in every single sport in the world except for ours so I’m sure ours is coming. But I don’t know exactly when.”
Pegula, Taylor Fritz on the possibility of tennis getting a LIV-style tour
Fritz, the highest-ranked American male tennis player, also offered his thoughts.
“There’s talks and you know, when, if it happens, I think the biggest question mark is going to be, if you compete on that tour, if you still are going to be able to play slams or not,” Fritz said.
“I think that’s going to be a big thing and you know, I’ll see what happens, I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or not until you kind of see how they would structure the tour, how it would be, to be honest.
“I do think the way the tour is now, there’s lots of things that could be improved. I guess you’d have to wait and see if a different tour came along, if they made it better for players.”
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