The Miami Open is owned by IMG and is a so-called “1,000-level” event, “just before the Grand Slams in significance”Getty Images

Saudi Arabia is “pushing to purchase two of the most prestigious professional tennis tournaments,” with the country’s investment fund making recent pitches to “take over events in Miami or Madrid,” according to Matthew Futterman of THE ATHLETIC. Both tournaments are owned by IMG. The country’s push to acquire the events represents its latest efforts to “embed itself into the highest levels of the pro tours.” Both Madrid and Miami are so-called “1,000-level events, just below the four Grand Slams in significance.” Tournaments of this size have “previously sold for several hundred million dollars.” Sources said that the talks “are preliminary and could fall apart” amid the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. Saudi officials have been in talks with top tennis execs for more than a year about “multiple potential investments,” and tennis officials are “eager to placate their Saudi suitors and avoid the aggressive push” the country made in golf. Industry experts see tennis as “ripe for disruption” because of its fractured management, which includes “seven different governing bodies,” each pursuing its own interests. Both tournaments are “among the most successful non-Grand Slam events” and have long histories in their host cities, which could “complicate efforts to move one of the tournaments to Saudi Arabia” (THE ATHLETIC, 11/2).