Coco Gauff hopes holding the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia can “open doors”, although she admits she had reservations in regards to the occasion in Riyadh.
The WTA Finals, which entails the highest eight singles gamers and doubles groups, happen in Riyadh from November 2-9.
Beforehand tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have publicly criticised taking the season finale to Saudi Arabia.
“I’m obviously very aware of the situation here in Saudi. My view on it is that I do think sport can have a way to open doors to people,” the 2023 US Open champion mentioned.
“That is the primary skilled ladies’s tennis occasion held right here. The WTA pledged for the following three years to assist the Future Stars programme right here in Saudi and introduce extra Saudi ladies particularly into the game.
“I think their goal is to have a million people playing tennis here by 2030. So hopefully with that, people see us and see what we represent, and hopefully that will enact more equality.”
Saudi Arabia has change into a vacation spot for high-profile sporting occasions, however campaigners have criticised the nation’s human rights report.
“I would be lying to you if I said I had no reservations. You guys know who I am and the things I speak about. I was pretty much on every player call I could make with WTA,” Gauff mentioned.
“One of the things I said: ‘If we come here, we can’t just come here and play our tournament and leave. We have to have a real programme, a real plan in place.’
“We spoke with a variety of ladies right here in Saudi and considered one of them was Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud [the first female Saudi ambassador to the US]. One of many questions that I introduced up was about LGBTQ points and ladies’s rights points and the way we will help with that.”
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Highlights of the China Open remaining between Karolina Muchova and Coco Gauff.
However Gauff did warn: “If I felt uncomfortable or it felt like nothing’s happening then maybe I probably wouldn’t come back.”
Gauff will play Jessica Pegula on Sunday to begin her marketing campaign on the WTA Finals.
