Homosexuality is unlawful in Saudi Arabia, whereas Amnesty Worldwide has cited the nation’s “jailing of girls’s rights activists, suppression of free speech and rampant use of the demise penalty”.
BBC Sport requested all eight singles gamers the identical query: “Did you personally have any reservations or issues about coming right here given the document on human rights, significantly round girls’s rights and the LGBTQ+ group?”
The responses had been diverse, though there was the sense that gamers felt free to talk with out worry of repercussions. Many mentioned they hoped they might assist result in change.
A number of referenced calls that had taken place between gamers and the WTA, with Jessica Pegula – a member of the WTA’s participant council – saying there was “plenty of debate forwards and backwards”.
Zheng Qinwen, Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini all recommended showcasing top-level girls’s sport may very well be instance inside Saudi Arabia.
Swiatek mentioned she was attempting to “observe and find out how every thing works”, whereas Sabalenka mentioned: “I noticed every thing right here is kind of chill.
“Me personally, I haven’t got any points taking part in right here. I feel it is actually vital to deliver tennis all world wide and encourage [the] younger era.”
Gauff’s response drew on her household’s expertise of the transfer away from racial segregation in the US.
“Realizing from the previous from my grandmother, integrating her college, individuals aren’t going to love it, however in the long term I feel it may very well be higher for everyone,” she mentioned.
However the 20-year-old added: “If I felt uncomfortable or felt like nothing’s taking place, then possibly I in all probability would not come again.”
