Saudi Arabia broadened its inroads into professional tennis with an announcement Thursday that four of the world’s top players, including Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, will play exhibition matches in Riyadh in December.
While the country is still short of hosting significant tournaments on the men’s and women’s tours, landing the two biggest names in the sport — and its most high-profile rivalry right now — is a significant get for a kingdom known for using sports to burnish its public image. Alcaraz and Djokovic will face each other on Dec. 27 as part of Riyadh Season, a giant festival organized by the country’s General Entertainment Authority.
Before Djokovic and Alcaraz play, the top-ranked women’s player Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will play Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, the most successful female player of African and Arab descent in the sport’s history.
Becoming a part of the global sports infrastructure — and tennis specifically — has become a top priority for Saudi Arabia. Last year, the kingdom debuted its own men’s golf tour, paying top players hundreds of millions of dollars to play in its tournaments rather than those that were part of the traditional PGA Tour. The maneuvering led to a pending deal with the PGA that gives the kingdom’s…
