MELBOURNE – Two years after the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was lauded by human rights advocates for suspending its tournaments in China, the tour risks angering those same activists as it mulls moving its season-ending Finals to Saudi Arabia.

Speculation about the event heading to the kingdom has intensified and there has been pushback from within the game, most notably from tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in sports like football, Formula One and golf the last few years, even as critics accuse it of using its Public Investment Fund to “sportswash” its human rights record.

“The human rights risks in Saudi Arabia to players, fans, and journalists are very serious,” said Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch.

“Sports such as tennis have only been allowed in the kingdom since 2018 for women and girls. Until that time, women and girls were not welcome in the stadium even to watch sports.”

Saudi Arabia denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws.

The WTA, whose chief Steve Simon said in 2023 that Saudi Arabia presented “big issues”, revealed it was in discussions with various groups over the 2024 edition of the Finals and that no decision had yet been made.

The men’s ATP Tour announced its first foray into the Gulf country in August 2023 with a five-year deal for its Next Gen Finals, but Evert and Navratilova argued the situation was different for women’s tennis.

The future looked very different a few years ago when the WTA held the 2019 edition of the Finals with a prize pot of US$14 million (S$18.8 million) in Shenzhen, which had seen off rival bids from Prague, St Petersburg, Singapore and Manchester for a 10-year deal.

China’s response to the Covid-19 crisis forced the event to be cancelled the following year, though, and it was shifted to Guadalajara, Mexico in 2021.

It was expected to return to Shenzhen from 2022 but the WTA suspended its billion-dollar business in China due to concerns over the treatment of former doubles world No. 1 Peng Shuai.

Human rights groups welcomed the WTA’s stand and made their disappointment clear when the tour, which posted eight-figure losses in 2020 and 2021, performed a U-turn in April 2023.

The Texas city of Fort Worth stepped in to host the 2022 Finals, drawing sparse crowds, and the WTA was expected to take the event to Saudi Arabia in 2023 before announcing Cancun, Mexico, as the venue less than two months from the start.

It was not a success. Aryna Sabalenka, who won her second Australian Open title on Jan 28, said then she felt “disrespected” by the standard of organisation, prompting Simon to write a letter to players admitting the event was “not perfect”.

Sabalenka said she would be happy to play the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia if they were held there, after an “amazing experience” during an exhibition event in Riyadh in late 2023.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek urged caution, but did accept that engagement was a way to improve human rights.

“It’s not easy for women in these areas,” the Polish star said. “Obviously these countries also want to change and improve politically and sociologically.” REUTERS