{"id":85103,"date":"2024-04-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2024\/04\/07\/its-official-riyadh-is-hosting-the-wta-finals-from-2024-2026\/"},"modified":"2024-04-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T00:00:00","slug":"its-official-riyadh-is-hosting-the-wta-finals-from-2024-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2024\/04\/07\/its-official-riyadh-is-hosting-the-wta-finals-from-2024-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"It's official: Riyadh is hosting the WTA Finals from 2024-2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ace for Saudi: <\/font><\/strong>Riyadh will host the WTA tennis finals from 2024-2026, the WTA said in a statement<\/a> last week, ending months of speculation on the fate of the women\u2019s tennis flagship tour event after some in the tennis industry mounted a campaign against Saudi's bid for the rights. The WTA said it picked Riyadh \u201cfollowing a comprehensive evaluation process over several months, which has included assessment of multiple bids from different regions and engagement with players.\u201d<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/strong> The tournament, which will run from 2-9 November in Riyadh, will feature the top women singles players as well as doubles matchups with a record purse of USD 15.25 mn on offer. That figure is set to grow for both the 2025 and 2026 editions; Riyadh replaces last year\u2019s host Cancun, which had offered a total purse of USD 9 mn. <\/p>\n

** Tap or click here to read this story with all of the links <\/strong>to our background stories as well as external sources.<\/p>\n

A \u201cdefining moment\u201d:<\/strong> \u201cTo have a women's tournament of this magnitude and profile is a defining moment for tennis in Saudi Arabia. The WTA Finals has the power to inspire far beyond the sport, especially for our young girls and women,\u201d Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal Al Saud told Reuters<\/a> after the announcement.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not all: <\/strong>The Saudi Tennis Federation and the WTA will partner to develop multi-year initiatives to help boost the sport here. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long road: <\/strong>Saudi hosting this year\u2019s final comes after a wave of criticism in the past months from critics who said that the Kingdom was engaged in \u201csportswashing.\u201d Critics were led by retired tennis icons Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova<\/a>. The opposition drew a smart reply<\/a> from Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, the Kingdom\u2019s ambassador to Washington. Princess Reema said Evert and Navratilova\u2019s opposition was \u201cbased on arguments that are outdated stereotypes and western-centric views of our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s welcome:<\/strong> \u201cEveryone will be made to feel extremely welcome. Our country is moving forward. Much has been achieved already and many historic steps taken by women in all sectors in recent years, with sport driving much of the progress across our entire society. So, we have real momentum and hosting the world\u2019s best tennis players in Riyadh will only accelerate our transformation and help grow the game further,\u201d STF President Arij Muhtabagani said.<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND- <\/strong>The Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a \u201cmulti-year strategic partnership\u201d with the men\u2019s ATP Tour in February<\/a> to become the official naming partner of ATP rankings and partner in ATP Tour events, including Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing, and Italy\u2019s Nitto ATP Finals. It also includes the Next Gen ATP Finals, which Jeddah will host until 2027. <\/p>\n

AND- Six of the world\u2019s top-ranked men\u2019s tennis players <\/strong>will be in town<\/a><\/strong> in October<\/strong> to compete in the first-ever \u201cSix Kings Slam.\u201d Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, and Holger Rune will all be here for the tournament in Riyadh. Nadal was named ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation recently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The top players will have their eyes on a record prize money of USD 15.25 mn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2524],"tags":[8],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-85103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-_newspack_sports","tag-sports","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"a575e475-995a-47a3-a924-3d43b2ae9cb1","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2024\/4\/655.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Riyadh secures hosting rights for WTA Finals","related_issue":[85096],"teaser":"The top players will have their eyes on a record prize money of USD 15.25 mn","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2024\/4\/.75bd85f9-310a-48f6-b020-160026599cce.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nIt's official: Riyadh is hosting the WTA Finals from 2024-2026 - 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