The WTA Tour signed a multi-year partnership with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund on May 20, the second major tennis governing body to formalize a relationship with the kingdom's $925 billion sovereign wealth fund in four months. Terms remain undisclosed. The deal includes the PIF WTA Maternity Fund Program, which guarantees paid leave and ranking protection for professional players during pregnancy and early motherhood—the first such program in women's professional sports.
The arrangement follows the ATP Tour's February agreement with PIF, which established the men's tour as the naming-rights sponsor for the ATP Rankings. PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan joined both tours' boards. The WTA structure differs: PIF becomes a "Premier Partner" rather than taking naming rights, and the maternity fund operates as a distinct program rather than embedded sponsorship language. The WTA Players' Council, led by president Ons Jabeur, drove the maternity component during negotiations that began in March, according to two people briefed on the talks.
The maternity fund covers players ranked inside the Top 250 in singles or Top 100 in doubles. Benefits include up to 24 weeks of paid leave at a tiered rate based on ranking, automatic seeding protection for twelve months following return, and a $10,000 childcare stipend per tournament for the first calendar year back. Players who qualify retain their ranking position for the duration of leave, preventing the career drop that historically accompanied pregnancy. Former Top 10 player Victoria Azarenka lost her ranking entirely during maternity leave in 2017, re-entering the tour at No. 1,105. The WTA later introduced limited ranking protections, but those required players to use special rankings in lieu of tournament entries—a half-measure that preserved spots without preserving seeding or automatic main-draw access.
The policy creates a valuation problem for competing women's leagues. The LPGA Tour, WNBA, and NWSL all lack comparable maternity structures. The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement includes eight weeks of paid leave at full salary but no ranking or roster-spot protections beyond that window. The LPGA offers no formal program; players negotiate individually with sponsors. One NWSL general manager, speaking before the WTA announcement, estimated a league-wide maternity fund for a twelve-team competition would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million annually, assuming three to five players per season and coverage matching the WTA's tiered model. The WTA operates with roughly 2,500 ranked players across singles and doubles; actual annual cost will depend on uptake, but the tour's previous ranking-protection system saw an average of eighteen players invoke maternity provisions per year between 2019 and 2023.
Saudi Arabia now holds commercial positions across Formula 1, LIV Golf, the ATP and WTA Tours, LaLiga, and WWE, with PIF deploying an estimated $15 billion into sports partnerships and event hosting since 2021. The WTA previously faced internal debate over hosting tournaments in the kingdom; the tour has not scheduled a Saudi stop, unlike the ATP's Diriyah Tennis Cup exhibition series. The partnership announcement included no mention of WTA events in Riyadh or Jeddah, though PIF's ATP agreement preceded the creation of two new ATP 250 hard-court tournaments in Saudi Arabia starting in 2025. Steve Simon, WTA CEO, declined to rule out future events during a May 20 press call but noted "no current plans."
The maternity fund begins coverage for pregnancies confirmed after June 1, 2024. Players must submit medical documentation and ranking verification to the WTA Player Relations team within thirty days of confirmation. The first payments are expected in Q3 2024. PIF's contribution covers the fund for the initial three-year term; the WTA committed to continuing the program independently if the partnership does not renew, funded through existing prize-money reserves and a proposed 0.3% levy on future media-rights deals.
Watch how the LPGA Tour responds. Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan told *Golf Digest* in April that maternity benefits were "under active review," a timeline that predated the WTA's announcement by five weeks. The WNBA's next CBA negotiation opens in November 2025; the union is already circulating maternity surveys to membership. One player agent with clients across three women's leagues said his phone started ringing within twenty minutes of the WTA release.
The takeaway
The WTA's PIF-backed maternity fund sets the baseline; rival women's tours now price whether matching it costs more than losing talent.
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