Garbine Muguruza’s coach and former Wimbledon champ Conchita Martinez celebrate the WTA Finals not going to Saudi Arabia raising questions on women’s rights in the country

Martinez shared her views on WTA Finals which is going to be held in Cancún.

Garbine Muguruza’s coach and former Wimbledon champ Conchita Martinez celebrate the WTA Finals not going to Saudi Arabia raising questions on women’s rights in the country

Conchita Martinez(Image: Reuters)

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced on Thursday that Cancun, Mexico will be the host city for the 2023 season-end WTA Finals. The tennis event will be held from October 29 to November 5th. The recent decision came as a relief to many tennis fans and several players in the WTA. Conchita Martinez, a former Wimbledon champion and two-time Grand Slam winner, Garbine Muguruza‘s coach commented on the WTA’s latest decision.

Earlier, the WTA had been considering Saudi Arabia as a potential host for the year-end Finals, especially after the Association for Tennis Professionals (ATP) announced that the Next-GEN ATP finals will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 2023-2027. However, several tennis fans, players and big names in the tennis world spoke up against the decision.

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Conchita Martinez, who is now also the director of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, which will be held the following week, talked about the WTA’s latest decision in an interview with CLAY. “Why are we going to go to Saudi Arabia with how women are seen there? I was very happy that the Finals are going anywhere other than Saudi Arabia,” the 51-year-old stated.

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“Money is not everything, there are many values, and the truth is that I don’t see it as very positive that the WTA went there considering the way they treat women in that country,” Martinez said. The prospects of the WTA Finals event being held in Saudi Arabia have raised several questions since the country has been accused of “sports-washing” in order to mask its human rights violations.

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WTA Finals to be held at Cancún, Mexico

WTA
WTA (Image via FirstSportz)

The WTA chose Cancún in Mexico as the host city for the year-end Finals. They reached this decision after a rigorous selection process. The issues such as accessibility to the courts, venue capacity, player logistics and importantly, a strong commitment to promoting and exhibiting tennis were some of the things the WTA looked at while searching for a perfect city to host the tournament.

The organization has also decided to collaborate with GS Sports Management for the finals at the end of the year. GS Sports had successfully organized a few other WTA events as well in the past. These include the WTA 1000 Guadalajara, WTA 250 Merida, WTA 125 San Luis as well as the WTA Finals event in Guadalajara back in 2021.

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