Martina Navratilova doubles down on Saudi Arabia criticism and makes brutal comparison
Martina Navratilova has voiced her annoyance at the WTA Tours decision to move their end-of-season finals in Saudi Arabia and now she has doubled down on that criticism.
The nine-time Wimbledon champion joined forces with her old rival Chris Evert as they urged the WTA not to take the big-money offer that was on the table from Saudi Arabia.
Yet the decision was made to move the event to Riyadh, with Navratilova suggesting that decision was akin to playing the tournament in North Koera.
Saudi Arabia’s traditional position on women’s rights is one of the reasons why Navratilova joined the chorus of criticism for the decision to move the event to the country and now the tennis icon has confirmed she will not attend the tournament.
“We’re going to Saudi Arabia which is about as big a change as you can make except for maybe going to North Korea,” said Navratilova.
“Chris Evert and I have made our views clear on that, but the players have made their choices.
“One of the comments I heard, one of the players said they ‘don’t want to be political’. Going to Saudi is about as political you can get. Welcome to sport.
“Sports is political. Sport has been at the forefront of social change. I don’t see how anything happens there without the blessing of MBS (Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman). He decides what goes and what doesn’t.
“We’re a bit egotistical to think we can make a difference but who knows? Maybe this is a good thing, we’ll see how this goes.
“The players have to honour that, they’re the ones competing. We’re not affected by it. We’re not going there to play.”
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Her Royal Highness Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud, responded to the negative comments from Navratilova and Evert by describing them as “outdated stereotypes and western-centric views of our culture”.
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The move to take the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia comes following a new agreement between the WTA and Saudi Tennis Federation and will offer record prize money of 15.25million euros (£12.9million) at this year’s tournament.
Last year’s event took place in Cancun, Mexico, amid speculation that the tournament would be held in Saudi Arabia, which continues to come under the spotlight for human rights violations.
This year’s showpiece will take place between November 2-9 featuring the top eight singles players and doubles teams.
The WTA said it assessed “multiple bids” from different regions and with further prize money increases happening in 2025 and 2026, it will “support broader investment” in the “future development and growth of women’s tennis”.
Speaking about the new deal, WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon said: “Bringing the WTA Finals to Riyadh is an exciting new opportunity for us and a positive step for the long-term growth of women’s tennis as a global and inclusive sport.
“We’ve been impressed by the commitment shown by the Saudi Tennis Federation to grow the sport at all levels, and we have no doubt that players and fans can look forward to a world-class event in Riyadh as the finale to the 2024, 2025 and 2026 seasons.”
Saudi Arabia has previously hosted tennis tournaments and held the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah last November.
