ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi: We're all on the same side – that's team tennis

Professional tennis’ first foray into Saudi Arabia saw Hamad Medjedovic clinch the Next Gen ATP Finals title in front of a capacity crowd in Jeddah.

Andrea Gaudenzi, the chairman of the ATP, attended the final day of action at King Abdullah Sports City's indoor arena and says the tour’s first experience in the Kingdom was generally positive, despite the teething issues that are expected with any first-year event.

“I think I've heard very, very good feedback, both from the players and from my team, in terms of execution, the infrastructure here is impressive. The amount of work, investment and passion into the details has been amazing. I also looked at it on TV and it looked very nice. So yeah, I’m very, very, very pleased,” Gaudenzi told The National on the sidelines of the tournament now in its sixth edition following a five-year stint in Milan.

The Next Gen ATP Finals features eight of the world’s best players aged 21 and under. It was that criteria that attracted the Saudi Tennis Federation to host the event as a way to engage with the Kingdom’s predominantly young population.

But as has been the trend with other sports, Saudi Arabia is keen to expand its involvement in tennis by staging bigger events across both the men’s and women’s tours.

“We are exploring a number of different opportunities" with Saudi Arabia, said Gaudenzi.

“And we are here obviously, so we want to work with Saudi. I think we had very good relations the last couple of years, very interesting discussions.

“They have expressed the willingness and the desire to do more in sport and in tennis. I think the biggest challenge on our side is the calendar. In all honesty, it's very tight, it's very jammed.

“But the desire for us to actually be here and be