Reports say Saudi Tennis Federation paid many to fill empty stands in ATP Finals last year

According to a report by Ben Rothenberg, the organizers in Jeddah swiftly resolved the issue by altering the lighting so that it shone in black darkness instead of red to conceal the fact that the stands were empty.

By
Adeel Talib
-
Atp Finals
@Stroppa_Del

Following five successful editions in Milan, the NextGen ATP Finals moved to Jeddah last year for the first of a planned five-year run, making it the first officially sanctioned tennis tournament ever held in Saudi Arabia. A five-year contract to host the ATP’s premier ATP Finals in Turin was granted to the Federation of Italian Tennis (FIT) after the federation successfully hosted the NextGen event in Milan.

However, the scene was very different when the first Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) edition of the NextGen ATP Finals began last November.

With its striking red lighting design, the arena in Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City complex appeared sleek and modern. Additionally, it appeared terribly empty and quiet, and it remained that way for the tournament’s round-robin phases. It appeared to be a closed-off mid-pandemic event at times, with only the players’ immediate support entourages present due to the extremely low attendance.

Ben Rothenberg states in a report that to hide the fact that the stands were empty, the organizers in Jeddah quickly fixed the problem by changing the lighting so that it shone in black darkness rather than red.

However, by the time the tournament’s first Jeddah edition reached its fifth and last day in Jeddah, the arena was almost full and the red lights were back on.

The reports say about 700 local workers were offered a job offer on the final day of the 2023 NextGen ATP Finals (roughly US $27) in exchange for four hours of attendance at a tennis match later that day.