- Saudi Arabia are among the countries bidding to host the season-ending event
- But there are concerns from current and former players about staging it in Saudi
Saudi Arabia have offered to treble the prize money for the WTA Finals to £12million and pay a staging fee of £8m in order to bring the showpiece event to Riyadh in November.
The WTA Board are due to vote on the venue for this year’s finals in meetings to be held during the US Open in New York next week, with Washington, Prague and Monterrey also bidding to stage the season-ending championship.
Tennis greats including Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have condemned that WTA’s willingness to stage tournaments in Saudi and said they would not play there, leaving the Board with a dilemma.
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In financial terms the Saudi bid is by far the most attractive, with the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund understood to be willing to return prize money to the levels the WTA were receiving from China for staging the finals in Shenzhen in 2019. In addition the WTA would also receive an £8m staging fee.
In contrast the total prize fund for last year’s WTA finals in Fort Worth, Dallas, was £4m. As a result the winner Caroline Garcia received just £1.2m for claiming the title compared to the £3.5m prize secured by Ash Barty in Shenzhen four years ago.
The WTA would be widely condemned for taking the finals to Saudi given the country’s human rights record and laws prohibiting homosexuality, but they have shown a willingness to be pragmatic in the recent past. After removing all events from China following the disappearance of Peng Shuai in 2021 the women’s governing body announced a return to the country earlier this year despite failing to meet with the former Wimbledon doubles champion.
The WTA’s handling of the selection process has also been criticised, particularly the decision to leave it so late, with the players in the dark about where the finals will be held just eight weeks before they are due to begin.
In addition to Saudi there are also potential problems with some of the other venues bidding, most notably whether the Czech Republic would permit Russian players to play in Prague. The Czech government have banned Russian and Belarussian nationals from obtaining visas until March 2024 at the earliest so would need to waive these restrictions.
Saudi’s PIF are increasingly viewing tennis as their next sporting priority following their huge investment in football and golf. The ATP have committed to staging its Next Gen Finals for under 21’s in Jeddah from 2023 to 2028, while as Mail Sport revealed in July Saudi are also seeking to buy the United Cup the first tennis event of the season which currently takes place in Australia.
By: MATT HUGHES
Originally published at Daily Mail
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