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‘Money Is Not Everything’ – Staggering $650 Billion Saudi Fund’s WTA Hopes Slammed Further as Tennis Legend Sides With Chris Evert and John McEnroe

Published 10/01/2023, 1:24 PM EDT

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Amidst all the buzz surrounding the $650 billion fund from Saudi Arabia, there have been mixed reactions from tennis fans and players. Even though this seems to be a terrific opportunity for tennis players to be able to play in Saudi, this also has come out to be an issue for the WTA players especially with a lot of prominent women tennis players revolting against it.

One of them is the former Spanish tennis player Conchita Martinez. She has explicitly shown her denial time and again to going and playing in Saudi Arabia for the tennis players. Her opinion towards WTA players going to Saudi is in fact in agreement with two other former tennis players and that is Chris Evert and John McEnroe.

Conchita Martinez agrees with Chris Evert and John McEnroe on their views about WTA and Saudi Arabia

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It was speculated that Saudi Arabia might be one of the venues for tennis tournaments to be held. This meant that the WTA players may have to go to Saudi too. A lot of people were against it including Chris Evert and John McEnroe.

And now another former tennis player, Conchita Martinez has also shown her agreement with their views. She recently mentioned in an interview how she is happy that the deal for the tournament in Saudi did not go through. Conchita said, “I was extremely happy for the Finals to go anywhere other than Saudi Arabia. You said it yourself. Money is not everything, there are many values, and the truth is that I don’t see very positive that the WTA went there considering the way they see women in that country. Look what women are to them, so what are we going there for?

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The reason why she wanted Saudi not to be the venue was because of the way the women do not have equal rights there. The dressing sense of women which has been applied by the people of the country shows how narrow-minded the people there are when it comes to women. And not just in their fashion, but in a lot of aspects as well like jobs, personal lives, and more.

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This opinion is similar to what Chris Evert had also voiced about getting paid less but not taking any disrespect.

Here is what Chris Evert said about the same issue

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Chris Evert had previously tweeted about the same debate. She mentioned how she and a lot of other women had worked 50 years to get equality in pay and rights when it comes to sports. And now that they have it, going to a place like Saudi would only bring them down.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Chris Evert (@chrissieevert)

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They have worked to empower women and even if not going to Saudi means getting less moment, they should always prefer to do the right thing instead of working at the wrong place.

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Written by:

Ishmeet Kaur

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Ishmeet Kaur is a tennis writer at EssentiallySports. Although she completed her Masters in Business Administration, her passion for writing motivated her to hone her skills as a Content Writer. After sharpening her skills in writing and managing content, Ishmeet finally stepped into her dream field: sports journalism.
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Edited by:

Aishwary Gaonkar