THE WTA Tour Finals In Saudi Arabia was never going to be an under-the-radar affair.
Judy Murray, high performance coach and mother of Andy, the two-time Wimbledon championconducts clinics. There will be events focused on women’s health issues. A stadium within the 5,000-seat stadium was built at King Saud University.
And that of Spain Garbine Muguruzatwo-time Grand Slam champion, former world number one and bold name in tennis, is tournament director.
“She played the event, she won it,” said Steve Simon, chief executive of the WTA Tour. “She has a unique perspective.”
As the women’s tennis circuit arrives in a kingdom with a history of repression of women’s rights, it has assembled every possible star alongside the eight players who will make it an event. For a penny, for more than $15 million (£11.5 million), the total amount of prices negotiated over the three years agreement between the WTA Tour and the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) in April this year.
If Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Zheng Qinwen or Barbora Krejcikova manage to lift the trophy at the end without losing a match, the undefeated champion will receive more than $5 million (3, £8 million) – more than any Grand Slam tournament.
Muguruza takes on the role as the WTA seeks balance for its flagship event after five years of turmoil by bringing its most important asset to a country that has never hosted a major tennis event and has been heavily criticized for its sportwashing – using major sporting events. events to highlight its human rights record.
“We want to have stability,” Muguruza said in a Zoom interview in July. In this sense, she has no choice but to rise.
At the end of the summer of 2023, the WTA circuit still did not know where the eight best tennis players in the world were going to play their supreme tournament of the year. After a long process, Cancun, Mexico was chosen for an event that descended into chaos and sparked a full-blown player rebellion. The rain was falling. A temporary outdoor stadium, erected on a car park after the roof of the chosen indoor venue was deemed too low, has collapsed. Balls bounced unevenly and swirled in harsh winds in front of largely empty seats.
Aryna Sabalenka, the world number 1, said on social media that she felt “disrespected”. The WTA provided players with talking points about hosting the Tour Finals in a country that criminalizes homosexuality, advising them to consider saying: “I’m happy to play wherever the WTA Finals are held , it’s a prestigious event,” as reported last year.
The WTA said it followed an “accelerated timetable” after the lengthy selection process, to “ensure the stadium and ground meet our strict performance standards”.
This one-off tournament in Cancun followed one-off tournaments in Fort Worth, Texas and Guadalajara, also in Mexico. China ended a 10-year deal to hold the Tour Finals in Shenzhen from 2019 to 2028. It hosted the 2019 event, before the COVID-19 pandemic completely canceled the 2020 edition and that travel restrictions in China will force him to travel to Guadalajara for 2021.
In November of the same year, the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai accused Zhang Gaoli, China’s former vice premier, of sexual assault in social media posts that quickly disappeared. After Simon called for a “full and transparent investigation” which did not take place, the WTA in December suspended all tournaments in China. He ended the suspension – which cost the Tour tens of millions of dollars – a year and a half later, saying it had been ineffective and harming the sport. China responded by ending the WTA’s lucrative Tour Finals deal, costing it even more.
Muguruza won this Guadalajara event in 2021 – her last big victory as she battled injuries, motivation and confidence. “The WTA Finals are the last diamond of the year, where the best of the best have to be there and perform,” she said.
“Everything must be ready.”
Muguruza, 31, who was eager to find ways to stay involved in the sport after retirement, said her first discussions with the tour involved serving as a community ambassador for the event. This would have been a largely ceremonial position focused on promotional events. Then officials floated the idea of becoming tournament director.
Simon said in an interview earlier this year that installing a familiar face as tournament director, someone who had retired within the last five years, would hopefully send players the message message that the tour would ensure their concerns were addressed in the future – and well into the future. they have arrived.
Serving as tournament director for Tour Finals is a little different than at other tournaments, where solving the puzzle of scheduling hundreds of matches can be a daunting challenge. At the Tour Finals, which include only the top eight doubles players and teams, the schedule is set in advance and everyone plays on the same court, which is indoors, so the weather doesn’t of devastation.
This allowed Muguruza to delve into the more mundane aspects of his job: making sure the tournament chose the right kind of high-end hotel, that the food was top-notch, that the locker rooms were well-equipped , that the warm-up areas and sports halls meet professional standards.
The training grounds in Riyadh are of high quality. The stadium is perfect for a big event and the players have individual changing rooms with stickers of their images flying on the walls. Top doubles player Ellen Perez posted an Instagram Story admiring the breakfast, which she described as “the best I’ve ever seen” at an event.
Concerns about tennis seem to have been eased. Concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and the use of tennis to distract from it, shared by Muguruza and many tennis fans, will not go away. Human Rights Watch and other similar watchdog groups have criticized the country’s personal status law, which requires women to obtain permission from a male guardian to marry and to obey their husbands in a “reasonable manner.” which can include sex and could cost a woman her money. right to financial assistance.
Under the country’s penal code, homosexual behavior is punishable by death. As Saudi Arabia bids to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, 11 human rights groups have criticized what they describe as a “misguided assessment of human rights” by the kingdom carried out by AS&H Clifford Chance, the Saudi subsidiary of the international law firm.
“All the players asked a lot of questions,” Muguruza said.
“Will we be welcome?” How will we be treated? Is everyone welcome, including members of the LGBTQ community? »
She said her travels to the country have given her confidence that everyone will feel safe and welcome there. She met several women in senior management positions in government and sports organizations. “It was very refreshing,” she said.
“Everything is very normal.”
What Muguruza can’t control is what she believes is most important for any tournament, but especially Tour Finals.
How many people will come and watch?
Muguruza said crowds in Guadalajara, Mexico. played a significant role in his 2021 Tour Finals title run and the overall success of the event. Supporters filled the stands for day and night sessions throughout the week, their noise and energy shaking the temporary stadium as locals relished the opportunity to see the world’s best players up close and celebrate their exploits.
Over the past two years, theaters have been largely empty in Fort Worth, Texas, and Cancun. Muguruza impressed upon trip officials and local organizers how essential it is to have your butts in the seats. Previous WTA events in Saudi Arabia’s neighboring countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have often been held in front of small crowds. If this happens in Riyadh, Muguruza will have an important platform to tell someone about it.
“Having the stadium full almost every session and having the crowd involved in the tennis, in the activities, in so many things that were happening there during the city, I think that was the key,” he said. she declared.
Will it happen again in Riyadh, with all the pomp that the WTA has brought to crown its new era? No one really knows, but everyone knows that what happens will have ramifications beyond this event. Saudi Arabia gets involved in tennisthanks to the sponsorship of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), one-off events such as the recent ‘Six Kings Slam‘, and the organization of circuit-sanctioned events like the circuit finals, is stuck in its most coveted lane. The 1000-level tournament (one rung below the Grand Slam) he most wants won’t take place until 2027 or 2028 and remains just an idea, basics like who competes and when not confirmed.
The first of at least three WTA Tour finals in Riyadh is a proof of concept for the parties involved, to test each’s ability to present their preferred version of themselves to the sporting world. Everything is not very normal.
This article was originally published in Athletics.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
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