Ons Jabeur and Victoria Azarenka have backed the controversial decision to move the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia.
The worst kept secret in tennis was made official as the WTA Finals is moving to Saudi Arabia for the next three years.
Starting this year the country will be host to the best players in the world at the end of the season.
This has expanded Saudi Arabia’s investment in sport as the Public Investment Fund has already sponsored the official ATP Rankings.
Now the investment has gone one step further as it will plan to host one of the biggest events of the season.
However there has been backlash to the decision given Saudi Arabia’s recent human rights record in particular to the LGBT community with women’s sports not always being welcomed in Saudi Arabia.
Despite this Ons Jabeur in particular has been supportive of the move insisting that Saudi Arabia are respecting women’s tennis by offering a huge amount of prize money, “I’m very biased here, as you know. But, honestly, I’m very supportive for this decision, as an Arab woman, as someone that grew up wanting to have more and more tournaments in Arab countries, obviously,” Jabeur was quoted by The Post and Courier as saying.
“I know some people maybe here have a different opinion about Saudi. I do understand, but I wish they could be open about hearing what I have to say or what women there have to say. I think it’s a great opportunity. I wish people would be more supportive, obviously.
“They’re actually respecting us because they offered us very good prize money. Maybe not everything is about the money, but I don’t see any offer being the same as in Saudi. I feel, also, it’s a great opportunity for us to be there and continue for the changes that they’re making for women. I know how it was before, and I see how it is right now. I’ve been there a couple of times.
“And, honestly, I see a lot of comments about human rights all the time. But I do think like it’s a country, it’s getting there and giving a lot of more rights than any country, to be honest with you.”
Another player who agrees with Jabeur’s sentiment is WTA players council member Victoria Azarenka who thinks it’s a good opportunity to inspire young female athletes in the region, “I think that it’s a good opportunity for us to inspire different regions in the world and I think that this is what we’re really good at,” Azarenka was quoted by tennisuptodate.com.
“We hope that with our global reach more kids pick up racquets, more kids get inspired to play tennis. That is at least my dream. I think that it’s a good opportunity for us financially as well, to hopefully start more new programs for our tour, for our players.”
The event will take place in November and will see the prize money increase to 15.25 million dollars, which is a 70% increase from last year’s event.