Coco Gauff makes her position clear on shifting the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia as fans and players await the final decision

Coco Gauff talks about Saudi Arabia potentially hosting WTA finals.

Coco Gauff makes her position clear on shifting the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia as fans and players await the final decision

Coco Gauff ( above) , image credits ( People magazine)

The prospect of playing a future edition of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia has received mixed reactions from women’s players. The WTA recently said that it has not ruled out the idea of holding the season-ending competition there. WTA CEO Steve Simon has previously stated that the Gulf state presented “big issues” as a host for women’s tour events. The Saudi state has been accused of attempted ‘Sports-washing’ by hosting various sports events to improve its poor image on human rights.

The world number 6 Coco Gauff recently made her stand clear on the issue. Talking to the press in a pre-tournament press conference, Gauff said, “Yeah, I mean, to be honest, we don’t know much about it as players. Right now it’s just a rumour. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I saw the whole discourse going on Twitter, so I don’t really have a lot of information regarding that. I’d rather not speak on it until it’s set in stone.”

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Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the first Arab player to reach a Grand Slam final, supported the proposal. The world number 5 believes that playing WTA finals in Saudi will encourage women to pick up the sport. Jabeur confirmed her participation given she qualifies for a WTA finals event hosted by Saudi Arabia.

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The world number 1 Iga Swiatek was annoyed by WTA’s indecisiveness on selecting the venue for this year’s WTA finals. Jessica Pegula said that there should be a condition on Saudi to invest in women’s rights in exchange for the hosting rights. The ATP recently announced that the NextGen Finals would be played in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 2023-27.

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Coco Gauff talks about her preparation going into the US Open

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (Image via CNN)

The world number 6 Coco Gauff has had a largely successful run-up to the US Open. The American teen sensation has shown great performance in the North American hard-court swing.  Gauff won the Washington Open earlier this month, beating Maria Sakkari in the final. It was her first WTA 500 singles title. The American followed it up with her first WTA 1000 title at the Cincinnati Masters. The world number 6 beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to clinch the title. This was her biggest singles title to date.

Talking about the reasons behind her recent success, Gauff said, “I think just confidence and trusting myself. I think I trust the work that I’ve done in practice. I hope that I can continue to translate that into matches. Obviously I have the new team around me. Seeing a different perspective can sometimes just change things completely. I think I have a new perspective and I’m enjoying it a lot.” Gauff recently brought in Brad Gilbert into her coaching team as a consultant.

The 19-year-old returned to the Arthur Ashe stadium for a practice match against world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff begins her US Open campaign with a first-round clash against a qualifier. The world number 6 could face rising 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the second round.

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