Rafa Nadal mentioned there may be actual potential to develop the game of tennis in Saudi Arabia after the 22-times Grand Slam champion was named an envoy for the Saudi Tennis Federation.

The position will see the previous world primary spend time every year within the desert kingdom to assist prepare youngsters and develop curiosity within the sport, with plans additionally within the pipeline for a coaching academy, the Saudi federation mentioned. “Everywhere you look in Saudi Arabia, you can see growth and progress and I’m excited to be part of that,” Nadal, who pulled out of the continuing Australian Open with a muscle harm, mentioned in an announcement.

The Spaniard, who just lately visited a junior tennis clinic in Riyadh, struggled with a hip drawback final 12 months earlier than making his comeback in Brisbane however expects 2024 to be his closing season on the skilled tour. “I continue to play tennis as I love the game,” Nadal mentioned. “But beyond playing I want to help the sport grow far and wide across the world and in Saudi there is real potential.”

The males’s ATP Tour mentioned in August its Next Gen Finals for under-21 gamers could be held in Jeddah from 2023 to 2027, marking its first official match within the Gulf state following earlier exhibition occasions. Saudi Arabia additionally hosted high-profile exhibition matches final 12 months with world primary Novak Djokovic taking part in Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka taking over Ons Jabeur.

There has additionally been frequent hypothesis that the ladies’s tour will transfer its season-ending WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia, although WTA Chairman Steve Simon has mentioned the nation offered “big issues” as a bunch for girls’s tour occasions. The WTA mentioned in December it was in discussions with numerous teams over the 2024 Finals and past and no resolution had been made but.

Saudi Arabia has pumped big quantities of cash into sports activities together with soccer, Formula One, boxing and golf, with critics accusing the nation of utilizing its Public Investment Fund to have interaction in “sportswashing” over its human rights file. The kingdom denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its nationwide safety by means of its legal guidelines.

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