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WTA Tour, the women’s tennis organisation, announced on Thursday that Saudi Arabia will host the season-ending tournament featuring the top-eight players in the world. The move underlines Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in tennis as it signed a deal to host the WTA Finals for three years, starting 2024.
While on the cards for months now, one of the concerns was Saudi Arabia’s questionable human rights record and policy on same-sex couples. As per a report, the country will allow gay couples to share rooms during the course of the tournament.
“Tough to talk about,” said Daria Kasatkina, an openly gay player on the tour , when the subject came up last summer. “For me, I don’t think that everything is about the money.”
Tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had written in a joint column in the Washington Post in January: “Taking a tournament there would represent a significant step backward, to the detriment not just of women’s sport, but women.”
Marina Storti, chief executive of WTA Ventures, told Telegraph Sport, “we have been assured that everybody will be welcome in Saudi Arabia, regardless of sexual orientation or religion. If there are same-sex couples travelling to Riyadh and they want to share rooms in the hotel, that will be accommodated”.
Storti spoke about the criticism by Evert and Navratilova. “We have been in discussions with Chris and Martina, I have huge respect for the legends of the game. We had conversations, listened to their concerns, shared everything with the players, read the letters they have sent us. We continue to have a really good relationship with them but we had to make the right decision for the players, the fans and the tour.”
The prize money for the tournament has been set at a staggering $15.25 million for the starting year and could go up in the subsequent editions. It matches the expected payout for the men’s finals in Turin while setting a new record for an event on the women’s tour.
The decision comes at a time when the sport has been grappling with the possibility of Saudi Arabia’s growing influence amid big payouts but the PR nightmare that comes with it. The four Grand Slams have tried to develop a streamlined “Premium Tour” consisting of 15 high-level events.
Meanwhile, Andrea Gaudenzi, chief of the men’s ATP Tour, is auctioning off a tenth Masters 1000 event, with most insiders expecting Riyadh to be the winner of that contest as well. As per reports, Qatar and UAE have also expressed interest.
The WTA Finals are expected to take place from 2-9 November this year. The tournament features the top-eight singles and doubles teams depending on their performance over the season.
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