Daria Kasatkina is happy to play in Saudi Arabia on the WTA Tour after being given assurances about her safety.
The season-ending WTA Finals will be played in Riyadh for the first time in November after Saudi Arabia won the hosting rights for the next three years. Kasatkina is one of the few openly gay players in professional tennis and had previously expressed concerns about travelling to the Middle Eastern country.
Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia under Sharia law and the LGBT+ community live in fear for their lives. Speaking at Wimbledon last year, Kasatkina said there were “many issues concerning this country” when asked about Saudi Arabia, but the Russian has now changed her opinion.
“I’ve been given guarantees that I’m going to be fine,” the world No.11 told BBC Sport at the Madrid Open. “If I qualify, it means that I am top eight in the world – it’s great news for me.
“We see that the Saudis now are very into the sport, they want to develop the sport. And as long as it gives the opportunity to the people there, and the young kids and the women to actually see the sport – so that they can watch it, they can play it, they can participate in this, I think it’s great.”
Saudi Arabia has been accused of sportswashing – using its vast wealth to bring highly prestigious events to the country in a bid to distract from human rights issues. Under the leadership of crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the country has aggressively expanded into sport and has continually rejected criticism around human rights.
"People can behave the way they want to, there is nothing that says you can or you cannot behave,” president of the Saudi Tennis Federation Arij Almutabagani said. “You just have to understand that every country has its rules and traditions. It's the same thing that has happened in Dubai. How do they act in Dubai? We are the same, we are all neighbours. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE – how would the players behave there?"
However, tennis legend Martina Navratilova has decided not to visit Saudi Arabia in her role as a pundit for the WTA Finals. “We’re going to Saudi Arabia which is about as big a change as you can make except for maybe going to North Korea. Chris Evert and I have made our views clear on that, but the players have made their choices,” she said last week.
“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. 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.”