World No. 8 Casper Ruud knows that despite turning down opportunities to compete for big money in Saudi Arabia, he is powerless to stop tennis from flocking to the Middle East.

He was not invited to compete at the Six Kings Slam this week, where Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune battle it out for £4.6million. Each participant receives at least 1.15m, which Medvedev picked up in just 69 minutes after being dismantled by Sinner in the quarter-finals.

Tennis is not the first and won’t be the last to align themselves with Saudi riches, almost every sport has a presence in the gulf, with Ruud under no illusions that the “controversial” country’s presence in his career will continue to grow.

“I didn’t get an offer from the Six Kings Slam, but I have had offers in the past, and I have chosen not to go,” Ruud explained to SpilXperten. “It is obviously a controversial country in terms of many things, but there are other countries that are controversial as well that we go to and play in.

“Look at China with Peng Shuai. So it will be inevitable to play in Saudi in the future, I heard they will host a new tournament (Masters 1000) in the future.”

The Kingdom have been accused of sportwashing to change its public perception and switch the focus away from its human rights record, criminalisation of homosexuality and treatment of women and migrant workers.

Ruud recognises that his comments could be seen as a form of masking the nation’s issues, but he sincerely believes that the Prime Minister wants to “westernise” Saudi and that is why their influence on sport has grown exponentially.

“Obviously they have a lot of money, and I know what I am going to say will probably be described as sportswashing, but it seems to me that their new leader Mohammed bin Salman wants to do something and especially a lot of things in sport,” Ruud added.

“He wants to, maybe, change the country and maybe make it a bit more westernised. Athletes going there could lead to a change, who knows?

“I know that I might look very naive saying this, because people will just say that’s sportswashing covering what is actually going on. But if they never started anywhere, I am not sure there would ever be a change.

“If you want to start with sport, I think it is something that other Middle Eastern countries have done, you know, welcoming sports people and Western culture to their country, like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Somewhat also Doha in Qatar.

“Let’s see. I am sure it will be more and more in the future, and there are also a lot of rumours on the ATP Tour if there is going to be an extra tournament in Saudi Arabia.

“I have chosen not to go so far, but it seems to me that it is inevitable, that they will somehow be big in tennis in the future and they already have the Next Gen Finals, so let’s see what the future brings.”