Coco Gauff hopes holding the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia can “open doors”, though she admits she had reservations about the event in Riyadh.
The WTA Finals, which involves the top eight singles players and doubles teams, take place in Riyadh from November 2-9.
Previously tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have publicly criticised taking the season finale to Saudi Arabia.
“I’m obviously very aware of the situation here in Saudi. My view on it is that I do think sport can have a way to open doors to people,” the 2023 US Open champion said.
“This is the first professional women’s tennis event held here. The WTA pledged for the next three years to help the Future Stars programme here in Saudi and introduce more Saudi women especially into the sport.
“I think their goal is to have a million people playing tennis here by 2030. So hopefully with that, people see us and see what we represent, and hopefully that will enact more equality.”
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Coco Gauff hit a stunning backhand winner in her epic semi-final encounter with Aryna Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open.
Saudi Arabia has become a destination for high-profile sporting events, but campaigners have criticised the country’s human rights record.
“I would be lying to you if I said I had no reservations. You guys know who I am and the things I speak about. I was pretty much on every player call I could make with WTA,” Gauff said.
“One of the things I said: ‘If we come here, we can’t just come here and play our tournament and leave. We have to have a real programme, a real plan in place.’
“We spoke with a lot of 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 that I brought up was about LGBTQ issues and women’s rights issues and how we can help with that.”
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Highlights of the China Open final between Karolina Muchova and Coco Gauff.
But Gauff did warn: “If I felt uncomfortable or it felt like nothing’s happening then maybe I probably wouldn’t come back.”
Gauff will play Jessica Pegula on Sunday to start her campaign at the WTA Finals.