"John McEnroe's absolutely right about this" - Tennis fans react to American not being in favor of Saudi Arabia's potential investment in the sport

By Sreeja Banik

Modified Aug 27, 2023 05:36 GMT

John McEnroe is not in favor of Saudi Arabia's potential investment in tennis

Tennis fans recently reacted to John McEnroe's disapproval of Saudi Arabia's potential investment in the sport.

Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the ATP Tour about potential joint investments in the sport, facilitated by their sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Moreover, the PIF is actively seeking the opportunity to host the 2023 Next Gen Finals in Jeddah.

In a recent interview with ESPN, John McEnroe expressed his opinion on tennis's involvement with Saudi Arabia, stating that the sport does not require it. He firmly believes that tennis would not benefit from investments made by the Saudis.

“I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think our sport needs it. I don’t think it would benefit from it, & I don’t think we should do it,” he said.

However, McEnroe acknowledged that the final decision does not rest with him, as someone else will ultimately make that call.

“But as Chris Evert said, it’s not up to us. Someone else is going to make that decision. They’re talking about Next Gen Finals going there. This is just something that I don’t understand why we’re going in that direction,” he added.

Tennis fans concurred with the opinion of the seven-time Grand Slam champion and took to social media to comment on the same.

One fan expressed that despite rarely agreeing with John McEnroe, he is in agreement with him on this particular matter because he was absolutely right about it, as was Martina Navratilova.

"Very rarely do i seem to agree with McEnroe but he's absolutely right about this, as was Martina," a fan wrote.

Another fan stated that tennis is having a discussion about potential investments with the Saudis because some individuals involved have the prospect of significant financial gains by compromising their industry. Such a scenario is not uncommon, as history has shown time and again.

"Because a few of the people involved will get truckloads of cash for selling out their industry. A tale as old as time," the fan wrote.

Here are a few more fan reactions:

"The way Novak Djokovic looks, he can do it 3-4 more years; it's hard to believe anyone can do it as well as he is doing at this age" - John McEnroe

Novak Djokovic and John McEnroe at the 2022 Laver Cup

John McEnroe strongly believes that Novak Djokovic possesses the ability to maintain his dominance in the game for another 3-4 years.

This belief was further reinforced by the Serb's recent triumph over Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the recently concluded Cincinnati Open.

McEnroe was impressed and was left in awe at the performance of the 23-time Grand Slam champion against his much younger opponent.

John McEnroe stated that he couldn't imagine anyone else being as exceptional as Novak Djokovic at the age of 36. He praised the Serb's remarkable achievements and unparalleled fitness and called it "unprecedented."

"He looked amazing (in the Cincinnati final). It was extremely hot and was struggling with the heat. He somehow found a way. It's unbelievable that he is so good at this age," John McEnroe told Eurosport.

"The way he looks, it looks like he can do it 3-4 more years, the way he is going. It's hard to believe that anyone can do it as well as he is doing even at this age. It's unprecedented," he added.

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Edited by Ankush Das