Martina Navratilova DISHEARTENED after legendary Billie Jean King came in support of WTA’s potential partnership with Saudi Arabia

After golf and football, tennis is the latest sport that can get help from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

Martina Navratilova DISHEARTENED after legendary Billie Jean King came in support of WTA’s potential partnership with Saudi Arabia

Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King (Images via Twitter, The Japan Times)

Many from the tennis world think that involving Saudi Arabia in tennis is inevitable. After golf and football, tennis is the latest sport that can get help from the country’s Public Investment Fund.

The legendary Billie Jean King, who is also a women’s rights activist, thinks Saudi will bring in a lot of money to help run WTA as well as ATP, which in turn will be beneficial for the players as well. The conversation surrounding a possible business with Saudi Arabia in the future has left another tennis legend Martina Navratilova disheartened.

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The major concern regarding the involvement of Saudi Arabia, as it has been raised by several notable personalities in the tennis world but most by the WTA players, is the controversy surrounding human rights, especially women’s rights, and laws that have banned homosexuality.

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For Billie Jean King, this can be an opportunity to engage with the Saudi leaders and help the country deal with women’s rights issues. King believes that seeing female tennis players across the Middle East will inspire young girls.

“I’m sure they [the tours] will [go to Saudi Arabia]. I think they will,” King said during WTA’s 50th-anniversary celebration in London (via cbssports.com). “There’s a lot of money, which is very important to keep having money to help the players, but also help run the WTA, run the ATP and all that.”

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Here’s how players and ex-players reacted to the possibility of tennis entering Saudi Arabia

Martina Navratilova DISHEARTENED after legendary Billie Jean King came in support of WTA's potential partnership with Saudi Arabia
John McEnroe (Image via Forbes)

On Twitter, Martina Navratilova shared a fan’s post that condemned tennis players for showing support for a probable partnership with the Gulf state. She wrote: “I am heartbroken about it. It’s just wrong.”

There was heavy backlash on Twitter when Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, whose career earning as per the ATP website is a staggering $12 million, said he is keen to have more financial benefits by playing in Saudi Arabia. Russia’s Daria Kasatkina slammed him for his comments saying that there are bigger and more important things than having more money.

World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz feels he will be playing in the Middle East country in the future because the kingdom has the power to conduct several tournaments. Ons Jabeur, the first Arab woman to play in a Grand Slam final, backed WTA’s decision because it will benefit the players. The Tunisian believes that things have started changing in the kingdom regarding women’s rights.

John McEnroe is completely against a Saudi deal. He expressed his confusion and feels it’s a comical situation about why tennis has to involve the country.

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