Australian Open champion Sabalenka backs finals move to Riyadh, as WTA faces resistance on Saudi Arabia links
- Sabalenka recounts ‘amazing experience’ of playing exhibition event in desert kingdom
- Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova says hosting event in Saudi would be counter to sport’s values
Little more than two years after the WTA was lauded by human rights advocates for suspending its tournaments in China, the women’s tour risks angering those same activists as it mulls moving its season-ending finals to Saudi Arabia.
Speculation about the event heading to the Gulf country has intensified and there has already been significant resistance from within the game, most notably from tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
But Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka said she would be happy to play the tournament in the desert kingdom, and praised its hosting of an exhibition event last year.
Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in sports like football, Formula One and golf over the past few years, even as critics accuse the kingdom of using its Public Investment Fund to “sportswash” its human rights record.
“The human rights risks in Saudi Arabia to players, fans, and journalists are very serious,” Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch told Reuters from New York. “Sports such as tennis have only been allowed in the kingdom since 2018 for women and girls. Until that time, women and girls were not welcome in the stadium even to watch sports.”
Saudi Arabia denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws.