This spring, the WTA and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement under which the final tournament will be held in Riyadh in 2024-26. The Saudis provided a record prize pool for Tennis players, over $15 million. This is six million more than a year ago in Cancun, Mexico.
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A great shame for the WTA. Poor turnout for the finals in Riyadh
The first days of this year's WTA Finals – the tournament with the participation of Iga Świątek started on Saturday – show that financial prizes are the only benefit for the federation and the players. There is no atmosphere of a sports festival in Riyadh at all. It is highly probable that the WTA did not care about this possibility at all when choosing the location.
The hall in Riyadh can accommodate up to five thousand people, but it is still empty – both for doubles and singles matches. Several hundred people come to the matches of the best tennis players in the world. The stands are not half full even at the matches of Aryna Sabalenka, the leader of the world ranking. The Belarusian and her rivals, including Świątek, they may be disappointed that their competition arouses so little interest.
This is influenced by several factors, including: the fact that the Saudis do not have a developed tennis culture. This sport is not properly promoted and is not very popular in the country. It is true that other Arab countries – e.g. Qatar or the United Arab Emirates – have been organizing ATP and WTA tournaments for years, but Saudi Arabia has so far lacked such an event.
Moreover, the promotion of the tournament itself was at a rather low level, which was repeatedly criticized by the federation itself. However, she did not take into account criticism and any comments. The effect is that the competition between the best tennis players in the world takes place in an environment similar to lower-ranking tournaments.
Tim Henman, a former tennis player, does not hide his frustration with the very low turnout in an interview with The Telegraph. – There have been many discussions about whether sporting events should take place in Saudi Arabia. If we look at the ongoing WTA Finals just as an event, it is extremely disappointing to see the best players in the world – Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff – perform in front of such an audience. Organizers are in a privileged position because they do not necessarily have to make money from ticket revenues. So they should go out to communities and schools, we need viewers to see the best players and create an atmosphere – he said, also throwing out an idea to improve attendance during the tournament.
According to the British daily, the empty stands are influenced by the culture of Saudi society, which has severely limited the role of women for centuries. Only in recent years has progress been made in terms of civil rights and liberties for women, but the progress is not significant.
“When Riyadh hosted the Six King's Slam showcase event nearby three weeks ago, the 8,000 seats were mostly occupied for matches featuring Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. It seems likely that, just as the Kingdom's female citizens are legally dependent on their male caregivers, women's sports are also considered second-class entertainment,” says journalist Simon Briggs.
By the way: women's tennis celebrities have already paid attention to this. A few months ago, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert raised the alarm that moving the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia would mean a step back. To the detriment of the WTA, women's sport and all women.
What does the WTA say about this? The federation stated that it has a positive approach to the issue of attendance and expects an increase in the number of fans during the most important matches. “We have always expected lower turnout as the working week in Saudi Arabia begins on Sunday, but we anticipate numbers will increase as the weekend approaches,” the British newspaper said.
The WTA Finals are called the “fifth Grand Slam” due to the high financial prizes, the large number of ranking points up for grabs and the fact that only a small elite of world tennis play. In the past, for many years the event was organized at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York. The WTA Finals were also hosted in Los Angeles, Madrid, Doha, Istanbul and Singapore. At that time, the turnout was definitely good.
