Coco Gauff hopes holding the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia can “open doors”, although she admits she had reservations about holding the event in Riyadh.
The WTA Finals, featuring the top eight singles players and doubles teams, will take place in Riyadh from November 2-9.
Earlier, tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had publicly criticized moving the season finale to Saudi Arabia.
“I’m obviously well aware of the situation here in Saudi. My view on it is that I think sports can be a way to open doors for people,” the 2023 US Open champion said.
“This is the first professional women’s tennis tournament to be held here. The WTA has pledged to support the Future Stars program in Saudi for the next three years and to get more Saudi women involved in the sport in particular.
“I think their goal is to have a million people here playing tennis by 2030. So hopefully people will look at us and see what we represent, and hopefully that will lead to more equality.”
Saudi Arabia has become a destination for high-profile sporting events, but campaigners have criticized the country’s human rights record.
“I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t mind. You guys know who I am and the things I talk about. I was on every player call with the WTA,” Gauff said. “
“One of the things I said: ‘If we come here, we can’t come here and play our tournament and walk away. We have to have a real schedule, a real plan.’
“We spoke to many women here in Saudi and one of them was Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud [the first female Saudi ambassador to the US]One of the questions I raised was about LGBTQ issues and women’s rights issues and how we can help.”
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Highlights of the China Open final between Karolina Muchova and Coco Gauff.
But Gauff warned: “If I felt uncomfortable or felt like nothing was happening I probably wouldn’t come back.”
Gauff will play Jessica Pegula on Sunday to begin her campaign at the WTA Finals.
