John McEnroe has warned against letting Saudi money gain a foothold in tennis, with the seven-time Grand Slam winner pointing at the Kingdom’s takeover of PGA golf.
ATP boss Andrea Gaudenzi has been in talks with Saudi’s public investment fund and is apparently entertaining the entry of Middle east oil money into the sport.
Reports say the first payback might be staging the under-21 NextGen Cup in the kingdom.
Mac has gone to the attack over what he considers worrying developments and says that following the recent golf template would be a huge error.
“It looked to me like the PGA were total hypocrites when they cut a deal after they’ve been fighting them,” Mac told ESPN.
“They have been buying players in other sports, brought boxing fights, you name it.
“I wouldn’t encourage it, the Saudi thing.
“I’m not surprised that tennis is being thrown into the mix after what we saw in golf.
“The people that are complaining about it, a lot of the people, are hypocrites because our government does business with things along with tonnes of other hedge funds, wealth funds, down the list, people that have dealings.”
