Staging the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia may also help to carry change on behalf of gender equality and LGBTQ rights within the kingdom, Coco Gauff mentioned, though the previous US Open champion added that she nonetheless had some reservations.
Riyadh will host the season finale, which options the highest eight singles gamers and doubles groups, from 2024 to 2026, changing final yr’s host Cancun, Mexico. This yr’s WTA Finals will run from Nov. 2-9.
The WTA has obtained criticism for the transfer, with greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova voicing their opposition.
“I am clearly very conscious of the scenario right here in Saudi. My view on it’s that I do assume sport can have a method to open doorways to individuals,” Gauff informed reporters Friday. “That is the primary skilled girls’s tennis occasion held right here. The WTA pledged for the following three years to assist the Future Stars program right here in Saudi and introduce extra Saudi girls particularly into the game.
“I feel their purpose is to have 1,000,000 individuals enjoying tennis right here by 2030. So hopefully with that, individuals see us and see what we signify, and hopefully that may enact extra equality.”
Saudi Arabia has invested closely previously few years in high-profile sporting occasions {and professional} groups from soccer to golf to Method One, though critics, together with girls’s rights teams and members of the LGBTQ neighborhood, have accused the dominion of utilizing its Public Funding Fund to “sportswash” its human rights report.
The nation denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its nationwide safety by way of its legal guidelines.
“I’d be mendacity to you if I mentioned I had no reservations. You guys know who I’m and the issues I discuss. I used to be just about on each participant name I may make with WTA,” Gauff mentioned. “One of many issues I mentioned: ‘If we come right here, we will not simply come right here and play our match and depart. We have now to have an actual program, an actual plan in place.’
“We spoke with a variety of girls right here in Saudi, and considered one of them was Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud [the first female Saudi ambassador to the U.S.]. … One of many questions that I introduced up was about LGBTQ points and girls’s rights points and the way we may also help with that.”
The world No. 3 mentioned she needed to see for herself if progress had been made, including: “If I felt uncomfortable or it felt like nothing’s taking place, then possibly, I most likely would not come again.”
Gauff performs fellow American Jessica Pegula in her opening match of the WTA Finals on Sunday.