Often accused of using sport to hide human rights violations, Saudi Arabia is said to be in negotiations with the WTA to host the Women’s Masters, after having already invested heavily in golf or football. “I am still waiting for official information on what will come out of it, because it is difficult to distinguish what is rumor and what is not”, indicated the player during a conference release two days before the start of Wimbledon.
“I’m ready to play where the WTA decides we play,” she added, however. Steve Simon, the executive director of the WTA had described the subject as “delicate”, Friday, during an event organized by the organizer of the women’s circuit, in London. “In February, I went to Saudi Arabia to see for myself. We had brought a few players and a few representatives as well. We wanted to see what changes had been made,” he explained.
While Swiatek admitted not having thought specifically about the reluctance to organize this tournament in Saudi Arabia, she believes that this could have positive effects. “I was thinking more about what we can do individually as players. Certainly, as a community, I think we can have some power, we could use it” to change things in the country, underlined the 22-year-old player.
On the men’s side, ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi had revealed that his organization had had ‘positive’ talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the PIF, for a deal, which had earned him criticism from former glories like John McEnroe or Chris Evert. Recently titled for the third time at Roland-Garros, but forced to forfeit before her semi-final in Bad Homburg on Friday, Swiatek will start Wimbledon against the Chinese Zhu Lin, in a tournament where she has never reached the round of 16.