HRW supports Evert and Navratilova on Saudi Arabia stance

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has lent its support to Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova after the pair of tennis legends shared their concerns about the anticipated WTA Championships being held in Saudi Arabia.

Evert and Navratilova wrote an open letter to WTA chief Steve Simon and other board members that was obtained and released by US sports magazine Sports Illustrated on January 17, 2024. In it, the serial Grand Slam winners said hosting the finals in Saudi Arabia "would represent a significant step backwards" and is "entirely incompatible with the spirit and purpose of women's tennis and the WTA itself."

The pair went on to say they "fully appreciate the importance of respecting diverse cultures and religions," but that the "WTA should represent values which sit in stark contrast to those of the Kingdom." The pair called for, "an open, honest and transparent discussion" before any decisions were made.

Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, told DW that HRW supports the letter. She added that all sports federations planning to do anything with Saudi Arabia, or any other country for that matter, have an obligation to do three things.

"Firstly, human rights due diligence. You can look on the Internet and see that Saudi Arabia is an outlier on women's rights, and not in a good way," said Worden, citing the law on personal status from last year which formally codified male guardianship over women and the erasure of LGBTQ rights as examples.

"The second thing is they must fully assess risks to female athletes, because the tournament doesn't exist without them, including mental and physical health, as well as the risks to fans and journalists. And the third thing is, under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the WTA has an obligation to be transparent and public about that process."

Time for policy

DW reached out to the WTA for comment on the letter, but as of the publishing of this article, they have yet to respond.

WTA CEO Steve Simon told reporters at an event marking 50 years of the WTA last June, that no decisions had been made and that the association was "evaluating like everybody else."

Worden believes there is a way for the WTA to bring a tournament to Saudi Arabia, but to do so requires a lot more work and transparency. Failure to do so would not only contradict the WTA's values but could also end in a similar situation as in golf, where PGA Tour players found out on social media about the creation of LIV Golf, backed by the Public Investment Fund. Worden said the two hearings that followed "should really put the scare into any federation that's thinking of doing a deal without a full stakeholder consultation with players and without transparency.

"The WTA should be doing its human rights due diligence by talking to Saudi women's rights defenders, but they won't be able to do that because they're either in jail or in exile, so they can talk to the ones in exile and if they did, I think it's a cautionary tale," Worden said.

Frightening hearings and potential cautionary tales didn't stop the ATP, the leading men's tennis association, from hosting the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah last year (where they are set to stay until 2027). And just this week, Rafa Nadal was named ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation, with the 22-time Grand Slam winner saying: "Everywhere you look in Saudi Arabia, you can see growth and progress and I'm excited to be part of that."

Interestingly, Worden says there is no evidence that the ATP did any human rights diligence ahead of hosting the tournament in Saudi Arabia.

"The ATP, WTA and ITF [International Tennis Federation] need to do the work," Worden says. "None of them have a human rights policy like FIFA or the IOC. They have to get one fast because failure to do so will reflect back and harm athletes, as we saw in Qatar," Worden explains, referring to FIFA's failed attempt to protect the LGBT community which, in turn, saw increased pressure on players to stand up for LGBT rights in a dangerous environment.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold