‘It’s Now or By no means’ – Jabeur in Favor of WTA Involvement in Saudi Arabia, as Opinions Shift

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday July 4, 2023

As rumors of the ATP and WTA Tours going placing a cope with Saudi Arabia swirl, gamers are popping out in favor of doing enterprise within the Kindom, regardless of Saudi Arabia’s poor file on human and girls’s rights.

On Tuesday Ons Jabeur expressed her views, and stated that she hopes the WTA Tour doesn’t get not noted of any potential offers.

“I think is a completely different situation than golf,” Jabeur stated, including: “If it benefits for the player, I’m 100 percent there.”

Jabeur and different gamers imagine that Saudi Arabia is making an effort to present girls extra rights, and he or she says that it’s time for a change.

“I hope in Saudi they will not just invest with ATP, I hope with WTA,” she stated. “I believe in Saudi they’re doing great giving women more rights. It’s time to change things. Believe it or not, we have the best two womens in Arabic world right now playing in tennis. It’s now or never. I hope they really invest in WTA.”

American Jessica Pegula believes that Saudi Arabia may assist the ladies’s tour get nearer to equal prize cash.

“If they (Saudi Arabia) could help getting us to equal prize money, though there are negatives, there’s a lot of positives that can come out of it,” she stated.

“At the moment, the best Arab players are women. So I pray, I really pray that they [Saudi Arabia] would go for women’s tournaments, not only men.”

Read @Ons_Jabeur with @ReemAbulleil right here:#Wimbledon https://t.co/v45VUFcwMc

— The National Sport (@NatSportUAE) July 4, 2023

The males have additionally opened as much as the concept of going to Saudi Arabia, which has already invested closely in soccer, Formula One and golf.

After two years of controversy, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia brokered a merger between the LIV golf tour and the PGA.

Some accuse Saudi Arabia of participating in “sportwashing,” utilizing sports to assist gloss over myriad human rights points, however others see it in a different way.

“It hasn’t happened yet, but I think it’s fair to be open to the discussion,” ATP World No.4 Casper Ruud stated on Monday. “It’s a lot of debate obviously in many different sports. Whether that’s good or not, I think it seems to me that they are trying to modernize the country a lot and hosting these sport events.

“So you can call it sportwashing or whatever you want. But in the end, I think it’s good that the country, they have the economy and they want to be big in sports. I don’t see why they shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”

Even Andy Murray, who has been against enjoying exhibitions in Saudi Arabia prior to now, has began to come back round.

But he doesn’t appear satisfied that it’s a good suggestion.

“In the past when we were asked to go and play there, we were asked to go and play exhibition tournaments,” he stated. “If they become major tournaments on the tour, it becomes a slightly different question, and it’s a difficult one, really, based on how the tour and the rankings and everything work, how important they are to get into other events and stuff. When you start missing them, you obviously get penalized for that.

“It’s definitely something I would have to think about. Unfortunately it’s the way that a lot of sports seem to be going now.”