Still only 20, Gauff moves with a wisdom that belies her youth. This was never more evident than how she conducted her business on and off the court during last week’s WTA Finals in Riyadh
Steadily – and rapidly – over the last 30 years, seeking to both expand their economic strength by not relying solely on their petroleum riches as well as struggling to convince the world they are becoming a less repressive regime, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has built an empire across the broad spectrum of professional sports; F1 racing, soccer, basketball, WWE and, most notoriously, golf with the LIV tour. And now professional tennis is the latest sport to be seduced by the massive amounts of money that the Kingdom can offer, with the WTA Finals just having concluded in Riyadh.
In 2023, while the Kingdom was intensely lobbying the WTA to host the tennis tour’s year end finals in Riyadh, a fault line developed amongst the old guard of the sport, with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on one side and Billie Jean King on the other. In late 2023, just before the WTA confirmed that Riyadh would indeed host the 2024 WTA Finals, Evert and Navratilova sent a letter to the WTA outlining their deeply felt concerns:
In light of the WTA Finals potentially being moved to Saudi Arabia, we feel it is essential to speak up now and highlight why we are so concerned. The WTA Finals is the crown jewel of our tour and we can’t sit back and allow something as significant as this to happen without an open, honest and transparent discussion.We fully appreciate the importance of respecting diverse cultures and religions. It is because of this, and not in spite of it, that we believe allowing Saudi Arabia to host the WTA Finals is entirely incompatible with the spirit and purpose of women’s tennis, and the WTA itself.
The WTA was founded on fairness and equality to empower women in a male dominated world. In short, the WTA should represent values which sit in stark contrast to those of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Not only is this a country where women are not seen as equal, it is a country which criminalizes the LGBTQ community.