Ethics CasesSport

Cases · WTA · 2024–2026

Engagement or Endorsement? The WTA Finals in Riyadh

In April 2024 the Women's Tennis Association agreed to stage its season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh from 2024 to 2026, with record prize money of $15.25 million. Months earlier, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had argued that holding the event in a country with a male guardianship system and laws criminalizing LGBTQ people would be a regression for women's sport. The WTA said the deal would grow the game and inspire girls. The Finals were played in Riyadh in 2024 and 2025. In July 2026 the WTA asked to move that year's event and the partnership ended a year early. The case asks whether a women's tour can do good by engaging with a state criticized on women's rights.

By Tanner Simkins, editor

Timeline

  1. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova publish an op-ed opposing a Saudi-hosted WTA Finals.
  2. WTA announces Riyadh will host the Finals from 2024 to 2026 with record prize money.
  3. Daria Kasatkina says she has been given guarantees of safety; Ons Jabeur backs the event.
  4. Coco Gauff wins the first WTA Finals in Riyadh.
  5. Elena Rybakina wins the second Riyadh Finals and a record payout.
  6. WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation end the hosting deal a year early; the 2026 Finals move to Indian Wells.

The ethical issues

  • Sportswashing and the reputational use of sport by states.
  • A women's organization partnering with a state criticized on women's rights.
  • Safety and dignity of LGBTQ players.
  • Revenue and prize money versus founding values.
  • Player voice in governance decisions.

Stakeholders

StakeholderInterests & obligations
WTA playersPrize money, safety and a say in where they play.
WTA leadershipGrowth, revenue and the tour's reputation.
Saudi Tennis FederationHosting elite tennis and growing the sport at home.
Saudi women and girlsOpportunities to watch and play sport.
LGBTQ players and fansSafety and freedom to be themselves.
Former champions and fansFaithfulness to the tour's founding mission.

The case

The WTA Finals is the season-ending championship of women’s professional tennis, played by the year’s top eight singles players and doubles teams. In April 2024 the Women’s Tennis Association announced that Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, would host the event for three years, with record prize money.[1] The decision came after two of the tour’s most celebrated champions publicly argued against it.[6] It raised a question that runs through modern sport: can an organization founded to advance women’s equality do good by partnering with a state widely criticized for restricting women’s lives? The deal ended a year early, in July 2026.[4]

Background

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in international sport, and critics accuse it of using events to “sportswash” its reputation amid allegations of human rights violations and restrictions on women’s lives and freedom of speech.[8] Tennis was already building ties: the WTA’s announcement noted that the Saudi Tennis Federation hosted the country’s first official professional tournament, the ATP’s Next Gen Finals in Jeddah, in November 2023, and that exhibitions in Riyadh had featured WTA stars Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur.[1]

In January 2024, as reports suggested Riyadh was in line for the Finals, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova wrote a joint opinion piece in the Washington Post. Holding the event there, they said, would be “entirely incompatible with the spirit and purpose of women’s tennis and the WTA itself.” They pointed to “a male guardianship law that essentially makes women the property of men” and a country that “criminalizes the LGBTQ community to the point of possible death sentences.” They concluded: “Staging the WTA final there would represent not progress, but significant regression.”[6] They urged an “open, honest discussion,” briefings to players by human rights experts and a human rights framework if the event went ahead, and said they hoped to endorse engagement if change came.[6] Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki took a different view, saying the tour had “a chance to make a change and do something good there.”[6]

What happened

On 4 April 2024 the WTA announced a three-year agreement with the Saudi Tennis Federation. It said Riyadh was chosen after “a comprehensive evaluation process over several months,” including multiple bids and engagement with players. The deal offered prize money of $15.25 million in 2024, with increases in later years, and investment in marketing and fan growth. The two organizations also pledged programs to bring more girls and boys into tennis.[1] WTA chief executive Steve Simon called it “a positive step for the long-term growth of women’s tennis as a global and inclusive sport.”[1] Arij Mutabagani, the federation’s president and the first elected female president of any Saudi sports federation, said the event could “power the dreams of millions of young people” and that “everyone will be made to feel extremely welcome.”[1]

Players split. Daria Kasatkina, one of the few openly gay players on the tour, had earlier said there were “many issues concerning this country.” In April 2024 she said she had been “given guarantees that I’m going to be fine.”[7] Human Rights Watch told the BBC that LGBT people in Saudi Arabia “have to practise extreme self-censorship to survive their daily lives.” Asked about gay players, Mutabagani said: “every country has its rules and traditions.” Simon said LGBTQ+ representatives were included on fact-finding trips. Ons Jabeur said: “As an Arab woman, I’m very proud some things are moving there in Saudi.”[7]

Coco Gauff won the first Riyadh Finals in November 2024, beating Zheng Qinwen in a final of more than three hours.[2] In November 2025 Elena Rybakina beat Sabalenka. The WTA said Rybakina won “the biggest prize money payout in women’s sporting history.”[3]

The rules and governance

No WTA rule barred the choice. The tour judged hosts against its own criteria. According to the BBC, these included support for the WTA’s ambition to reach equal prize money.[1][8] The deal was a commercial agreement between the WTA and the federation, and the WTA said its evaluation included engagement with players.[1] No human rights framework of the kind Evert and Navratilova proposed was published as part of the announcement.[1][6]

Aftermath

On 1 July 2026 the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation announced that the WTA had asked to move the 2026 Finals. The federation accepted, and the two “mutually agreed on the conclusion of the hosting arrangement.” Their joint statement said the partnership reached more than 30,000 people through community programs and that 2025 attendance grew 20% on the previous year.[4] The 2026 Finals were moved to Indian Wells, California, for 8–15 November.[5] BBC Sport reported that tension between Iran and the United States had made planning harder and was one reason for the early exit.[8] Neither organization cited human rights concerns as a reason.[4]

The core dilemma

Should a women’s sports organization accept a lucrative host whose laws restrict women and criminalize LGBTQ people, on the theory that engagement brings change? Or does hosting lend legitimacy that outweighs the benefits?

Competing values

Mission and integrity stand against growth and prize money. Players’ rights and safety stand against opportunities for local girls and women. Engagement stands against endorsement.

Strongest arguments

For Riyadh: Record prize money benefits players directly, and new audiences may grow the sport.[1][3] Local girls can see elite women athletes. Some players, including an Arab champion, backed it. Reported community programs reached tens of thousands of people.[7][4]

Against: The WTA’s founding purpose was equality, and hosting in Saudi Arabia may lend credibility to a state accused of restricting women’s lives. Gay players’ safety depended on private assurances rather than public rights.[6][7] Early exit for logistical reasons left the ethical questions unanswered.[8]

Applying the frameworks

Rights

A rights view focuses on players and residents. It asks whether players can be fully themselves at an event, and whether participation helps or harms the rights of Saudi women and LGBTQ people. Assurances given to individual players differ from legal protections.[7]

Utilitarianism

A utilitarian would weigh prize money, audience growth and community programs against reputational harm to the tour and any reinforcement of a state’s image.[1][4] Measurable outcomes, such as participation and attendance, matter, but so do harder-to-measure effects.

Virtue ethics

Virtue ethics asks what kind of organization the WTA wants to be. Evert and Navratilova appealed to the tour’s founding character.[6] Supporters argued that courage and openness mean going where change is possible.[6][7]

Walk it through: the Simple Decision Model

  1. What are the facts? The WTA signed a three-year Riyadh deal with record prize money, held two Finals there, and ended the deal early in 2026.[1][4]
  2. Who are the stakeholders? Players, WTA leadership, the Saudi Tennis Federation, Saudi women and girls, LGBTQ players and fans, and former champions.
  3. What are the options? Decline Riyadh; accept with a published human rights framework; accept as signed; or accept with a shorter term.
  4. Which values are in conflict? Mission and integrity against growth and revenue; player safety against engagement.
  5. What do the frameworks suggest? Rights thinking demands enforceable protections; utilitarian analysis depends on measured outcomes; virtue ethics asks whether the decision fits the tour’s character.
  6. What would you decide and why? Decide as a WTA board member in 2024. Write the conditions, if any, you would have required.

What’s settled and what’s contested

Settled: The terms of the announcement, the results of the 2024 and 2025 Finals, and the early end of the deal.[1][2][3][4]

Contested: Whether the partnership advanced women’s sport in Saudi Arabia or mainly enhanced the state’s image, and whether players were adequately protected and consulted.[6][7][8]

Why this case matters

The case pairs with the WTA’s stand over Peng Shuai and China, where the tour gave up revenue on principle. It also connects to LIV Golf and the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup. It shows how sportswashing debates play out when the organization involved was founded to fight for equality.

Key terms

Sportswashing
Using sport, through events, teams or sponsorship, to improve the reputation of a state or company and distract from wrongdoing.
Stakeholders
Everyone with something at stake in a decision: athletes, coaches, parents, officials, fans, employees, sponsors, media, communities and regulators, including the less visible ones.
Integrity
A commitment to honesty and ethical principle in competition and administration, including when nobody is watching.
Commercialization
The process of turning sport into a product and a business enterprise, with profit pressures that can compete with principle.
Multiple points of view
Analyzing a dilemma from each stakeholder’s position in turn (athlete, parent, coach, administrator, official, bystander) before reaching your own reasoned view.
Agency
An athlete’s ability to make decisions and act independently about their body, career and voice.

Definitions from the Ethics Cases glossary.

Discussion questions

  1. Can a women's tour justify an event in a country criticized on women's rights?
  2. Do assurances of safety for gay players answer the ethical concern?
  3. Is record prize money a reason in itself to accept a host?
  4. Should former players' views carry special weight?
  5. What would count as evidence that engagement worked?

Sources

  1. Riyadh selected as the host of WTA Finals from 2024-2026 — WTA
  2. Gauff overcomes Zheng in three-hour thriller to win WTA Finals title — WTA
  3. Elena Rybakina wins record women's sports payout at WTA Finals — WTA
  4. Joint statement on behalf of WTA and Saudi Tennis Federation — WTA
  5. WTA announces Indian Wells as host of the 2026 WTA Finals — WTA
  6. Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova oppose WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia — ABC News
  7. WTA Finals: Daria Kasatkina 'given guarantees' on safety for gay players — BBC Sport
  8. Indian Wells to host WTA Finals after ending agreement with Saudi Arabia — BBC Sport