Tournament director Muguruza says WTA Finals in Riyadh should be the “most prestigious” event
There's a famous viral video of eight-year-old Coco Gauff in the stands at Center Court at the U.S. Open during Arthur Ashe Kids' Day Dance to “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen.
There are also photos of a young Gauff watching Venus Williams compete in the first round at the same tournament in 2012. She was seen sitting behind Williams' bench.
Eleven years later, Goff stood in the middle of Arthur Ashe Stadium and lifted the U.S. Open trophy, becoming a Grand Slam champion at the age of 19.
Just as she was inspired by Venus and Serena Williams while growing up and fulfilled a dream she began as a young fan in the stands of the U.S. Open, Gauff hopes she and her teammates can A similar impact was felt in the stands at the U.S. Open. The WTA Year-End Finals will be held in Riyadh this November.
“I feel like in order for a dream to come true or for kids to see it, they have to see it themselves,” Goff said last month in New York.
“Obviously, you all here have seen my videos from a long time ago. A lot of people wish there was a player or kid from Saudi Arabia who could say, 'This WTA Finals changed my perspective,' or make me realize that I Having a dream or a possibility in this sport.
“I think that's what tennis is about.”
If that's not proof that your dreams are closer than you think, then I don't know what is pic.twitter.com/EwVxVhM7jy
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) April 11, 2024
The prestigious WTA Tour end-of-season tournament will be held in Riyadh for a three-year period, with the inaugural edition taking place from 2 to 9 November 2024 at the Indoor Stadium at King Saud University.
The tournament will bring together the best eight singles players and the top eight doubles players on the women's tour and will be the largest professional tennis event in Saudi Arabia.
The WTA Year-End Finals, considered the tour's crown jewel, have experienced considerable uncertainty over the past few years, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic after hosting an event in Shenzhen in 2019. It was originally scheduled to be held in Shenzhen for 10 years. Year.
The three-year partnership between the WTA Finals and the Saudi Tennis Federation has many goals, and there are many reasons why Riyadh was chosen as the event’s new host city.
“It is very important to us that not only do we host the WTA Finals and make it an amazing event, but that we can have an impact beyond the event itself and leave a legacy for many years to come,” WTA Ventures Marina Storti, CEO of the WTA’s commercial arm, told Arab News in a recent interview.
“It's actually part of our strategy to grow women's tennis as a global sport and we really want to attract new audiences but also inspire the next generation and help tennis grow and really contribute to the community.”
The STF's ambitious goal is to inspire one million people to take up tennis by 2030.
This aligns well with the WTA's aims, and community projects led by Judy Murray have been running in Riyadh since June.
“The really good thing is we sat down with the STF and we said, 'Okay, we really want something concrete. This needs to have a real impact. So we developed a plan with three pillars: Community Tennis and workforce training, that’s the piece that Judy leads for us and the second one is women’s health and the third one is youth engagement,” Stotti explained.
Building a workforce as part of Riyadh tennis development plan @wta Community engagement plans surrounding next month’s World Tour finals. Numerous clinics for young people and workshops for teachers, students, parents and coaches. My kind of thing. @WTAFinals Riyadh pic.twitter.com/u1TCRqFJmp
— Judy Murray (@JudyMurray) September 27, 2024
Murray was in Riyadh recently to meet with WTA Finals event director and former world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza, where they visited schools, held community clinics, helped train coaches and teachers, and met with Zahra Breast Spend time with members of the Zahra Breast Cancer Association.
The Women's Health Pillar will involve the WTA bringing its ACEing Cancer campaign to the Kingdom, raising awareness and funding for the cause, while the Youth Engagement Pillar will “support local initiatives and introduce new ideas, with recent confirmation that we are working with Saudi Arabia's Special We will work with the Olympic Games to hold clinics during the finals,” Stoti added.
Hosting the WTA Finals in Riyadh will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the Kingdom, allowing young fans to familiarize themselves with the sport over three years and perhaps even choose to pick up a racket themselves.
From a tour perspective, there are many factors that go into the success of the Finals.
In 2019, what was supposed to be a great start to a ten-year stay in Shenzhen, and with champion Ashleigh Barty receiving a record salary of $4.42 million, the WTA Year-End Finals moved from one city to another—— Guadalajara in 2021, Fort Worth in 2021, Cancun in 2023 – but failed to find a stable footing.
Reduced prize money, fluctuating attendances and the lack of a multi-year agreement make it difficult to run the event in its original form, which is the pinnacle of the WTA Tour.
Now, with a three-year deal with Saudi Arabia, prize money is back where it should be, with organizers pledging $15.25 million for the first edition, matching the total prize money for the men's ATP Finals.
“We are at the beginning of a real transformation in women’s tennis,” Stotti said.
“We see huge opportunities for growth ahead, we've had an amazing 51 years but there's still a lot to build. So it's about growing tennis as a global sport and creating more opportunities for women to participate The opportunity to compete at an elite level while also creating new markets and new audiences.
“The fact that Saudi Arabia is a very fast-growing sports market and a country with a very young population that is showing more and more trust in sports and showing a real interest in investing both at the elite level and at the grassroots level, we I think it’s great to be a part of that growth.”
Top players have been outspoken about the problems they face at tournaments over the past two years, voicing their displeasure to the tour's top brass both publicly and privately.
These finals in Saudi Arabia are a perfect opportunity to restore players' trust in the WTA and rediscover the luster of the tour's crown jewel.
That's why the main focus of these WTA and STF finals is to perfect the player experience.
“This is something we are working hard to do. Having Garbine Muguruza as WTA Finals Director demonstrates the importance we place on the player experience,” Stotti said.
“She obviously wins the game, and she really cares about the players. She can give us that extra perspective on leadership, which shows how important it is.”
Stotti toured the host venue and said each player will have their own private locker room with their own bathroom and amenities. She said the facilities around the home pitch will be of “high quality” and is sure players will be pleased. The indoor venue can accommodate 4,200 spectators, and the number of spectators can be further expanded as the scale of the event expands.
“We also want the players to have fun off the field. We want them to enjoy the best of Saudi hospitality and we're going to have some amazing restaurants and spas for them and I know they're excited,” Si Totti added.
Muguruza, who officially retired earlier this year and won the WTA Finals in 2021, is keen to add her perspective to the mix.
“I think the relationship with the sports ministry, the federation and the WTA is great. I've always seen how complementary they are and I'm sure it will be a great tournament,” the Spanish two-time Grand Slam champion said at the latest told Arab News in an interview.
“Or at least I know our goal is to make the finals the most glamorous event, the most prestigious event, because I think the players deserve it.
“If I were a player I would try to bring everything I wanted to see. I want the players to feel that way because when I go over to play I want the crowd and the music to be here and I want to feel like I'm part of the show, like I own the show.
“I definitely want the players to be very happy and when they leave Riyadh they say, 'This was a great experience'. I hope they want to come back and are motivated to play football for the next few years, That's the ultimate goal.”
In the final weeks before the finals, spots on the field are quickly filling up with qualified players, many of whom are excited about the opportunity to make an impact on local communities in Saudi Arabia.
American Taylor Townsend has secured doubles status with partner Katerina Siniakova and will make her first appearance at the WTA Year-End Finals in Riyadh.
“I think it's a huge opportunity to be able to bring the women's game out there and also be inspiring, just because of the nature of the culture, it's not always very inclusive of women; so being able to be there and represented, especially as To be a woman of colour, I think it's fantastic, just to represent and show how things are evolving in the world,” Townsend, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion, told Arab News.
“So it means a lot to me, and to me, I hold it with the utmost honor and pride.”