(Riyadh) Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington said Tuesday she was “pained” by the criticism of tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova towards her country, considered to host the WTA Masters.
The retired players, who each won 18 Grand Slam titles, wrote an op-ed last week in the Washington Postcalling on women’s tennis bosses to give up organizing the end-of-year Masters in this Gulf kingdom.
“The unequal status of women remains deeply anchored in Saudi law,” they said, also citing other human rights violations, particularly concerning the LGBT+ community.
Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud reacted on social media on Tuesday, saying she was “deeply saddened” by the article, which she believes does not do justice to the progress made in recent years in her country.
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova “have turned their backs on the very women they inspired and it is beyond disappointing,” she wrote.
Since the accession of the young Mohammed bin Salman to the post of crown prince in 2017, Saudi women have benefited from new freedoms, such as that of driving, not wearing the traditional abaya, a dress covering the body, or participating in mixed events.
They are at the head of “300,000 companies and around 25% of small and medium-sized start-ups”, a level comparable to that of the United States, underlined the Saudi diplomat.
Human rights defenders, however, draw a more contrasting assessment, denouncing the repression of women critics of power.
The new law on personal status, adopted in 2022 and presented as “progressive” by Riyadh, was also criticized by the NGO Human Rights Watch for its “discriminatory provisions against women concerning marriage, divorce and decisions relating to their children. »
Saudi Arabia has been using sport as diplomatic leverage for several years with Formula 1, Moto GP, the LIV golf circuit, football, the Dakar rally and tennis.
The conservative kingdom hosted its first ATP tournament in 2023, the Next Gen in Jeddah, and exhibition matches Novak Djokovic-Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka-Ons Jabeur.
Rafael Nadal, winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments among men, was named ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation in early January.