“I’ve been given guarantees,” Daria Kasatkina advocates gay players’ safety in Saudi Arabia amidst WTA Finals record breaking prize money shocker

The Russian also talked about the benefits of moving the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia.

“I’ve been given guarantees,” Daria Kasatkina advocates gay players’ safety in Saudi Arabia amidst WTA Finals record breaking prize money shocker

Daria Kasatkina (Image via Imago)

Russian tennis ace Daria Kasatkina has claimed that she has been given guarantees about the safety of gay players if they go to Saudi Arabia for the WTA Finals. As the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) recently announced that the year-ending championships will be held in the Middle Eastern country for the next three years, there were questions about players belonging to the LGBTQ+ community.

Kasatkina, one of the few openly gay players on the WTA Tour was also skeptical of the move over the safety concerns. However, things seem to have changed ever since the WTA announced a record-breaking deal with the Saudi Tennis Federation which would yield a whopping $12m for the winner of the WTA Finals.

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The Russian tennis ace has now revealed that she has been given guarantees about her safety should she qualify for the year-ending championship and go to Saudi Arabia. Kasatkina also talked about the benefits of hosting the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.

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I’ve been given guarantees that I’m going to be fine. 

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.
Daria Kasatkina said to BBC Sport.

Daria Kasatkina joins Ons Jabeur in supporting the move to Saudi Arabia

With this statement, Daria Kasatkina joined the group of players on the WTA Tour who have supported this move. The Russian joins Ons Jabeur who has been pretty vocal about her support for this decision from WTA.

Daria Kasatkina and Ons Jabeur
Daria Kasatkina and Ons Jabeur (Images via Imago)

The Tunisian recently took a dig at the opposite group as she blamed them for forming opinions without enough knowledge. Jabeur also invited those people against the move to judge the situation in the country for themselves.

Meanwhile, Arij Almutabagani – the president of the Saudi Tennis Federation has claimed that there won’t be any difference in the treatment gay players receive in other countries in the Middle East like Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

People can behave the way they want to - there is nothing that says you can or you cannot behave. You just have to understand that every country has its rules and traditions," she said. 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?
Arij Almutabagani said.

The WTA has also claimed that representatives of the LGBTQ+ community were included on fact-finding trips to Saudi Arabia, before the deal for the WTA Finals was concluded.

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