Why It Matters: Saudi Arabia continues to increase its footprint in sports activities.
The feedback from King and Simon have been the strongest sign but that Saudi Arabia is increasing and accelerating its efforts to turn into part of not simply males’s tennis but in addition girls’s, amongst different sports activities like soccer, Formula 1 and golf. The Saudi wealth fund’s LIV Golf circuit lately agreed to a merger with golf’s PGA Tour after an acrimonious rivalry that included litigation and the lack of a handful of the tour’s greatest stars to the upstart league.
Looking to keep away from that situation and all the time on the hunt for brand new buyers, tennis executives have spoken overtly of their ongoing discussions with Saudi officers about holding tournaments there as quickly as this yr. Saudi Arabia is bidding to turn into the host of the Next Gen Finals, a males’s occasion for 21-and-under gamers scheduled for December. Saudi Arabia’s bid consists of the choice of holding a girls’s Next Gen occasion there as effectively.
Simon traveled to Riyadh in February with different WTA executives and gamers for conferences with Saudi officers.
Background: Players have expressed concern for his or her security.
The challenge is particularly sophisticated for the ladies’s tennis tour partially as a result of there are a selection of overtly homosexual gamers, together with Daria Kasatkina of Russia, who’s ranked No. 11 on the earth and infrequently travels along with her companion. The males’s tour doesn’t have any gamers who’re overtly homosexual.
Sloane Stephens, a member of the WTA Tour Players’ Council, mentioned it was vital for L.G.B.T.Q. gamers to really feel secure whereas competing in Saudi Arabia.
“That is part of the evaluation,” Stephens mentioned. “We want to make sure everyone is safe and comfortable and feels supported.”
King is overtly homosexual as effectively, however she cited the WTA’s choice to play in Doha starting in 2008 as a precedent for supporting international locations who say they wish to turn into extra progressive. Simon mentioned that, throughout his go to to Riyadh, he had seen a number of the similar modifications that Doha had mentioned it wished to make 15 years in the past when girls had “zero rights” and there have been issues about whether or not the gamers could be secure carrying quick, sleeveless tennis outfits.
“It’s about celebrating the betterment of women, that there is change coming,” Simon mentioned. “I’m not Saying Saudi Arabia is a place we should be doing business with. They have a long way to go, but they are making changes.”
What’s Next: The timetable is unsure.
Simon mentioned there was no timetable for making a call in regards to the WTA going to Saudi Arabia. However, the tour has but to announce a location for its season-ending Tour Finals. The tour and the Chinese authorities are at present negotiating the way forward for that occasion. The WTA suspended its operations in China for 18 months after participant Peng Shuai was seemingly silenced after she appeared to accuse a former prime authorities official of sexually assaulting her and the tour was unable to contact her.
Source: www.nytimes.com