'Going To Do What They Want Anyways': Pegula On Saudi Arabia In Tennis

| by Zlatko Vodenicharov

Jessica Pegula has been part of the WTA Council and is a long-tenured and respected player on the Tour; she was asked about Saudi Arabia looking for an entry into sports.

Not too long ago, news came out of Saudi Arabia holding talks with the ATP about possibly buying into the sport of tennis. ATP Chairman Andrea Guadenzi confirmed the talks to the media highlighting that the sport is careful in its approach.

WTA Chief Steve Simon said to the media that the WTA Tour is not currently engaging in any talks with Saudi Arabia though they were approached. Simon called the situation complicated highlighting the country's non-existent LGTBQ+ rights compared to the WTA inclusivity.

Leading WTA player Iga Swiatek voiced her support for whatever the WTA decision ends up being in relation to the topic. WTA Player's Council member Jessica Pegula was asked about the topic ahead of Wimbledon and she shared her thoughts.

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Yeah, it's tough because, like you said, there's obviously issues there. I also think there's issues in a lot of countries. Sometimes things don't get talked about as well.

But, yeah, I think they're, like, kind of not a threat, but they're there, right? Especially through the PGA, I think we saw what happened when you didn't want to work with them. They have infinite amounts of money where they can just do whatever they want anyways.

One thing Jessica Pegula hopes to avoid is the way golf went about it. A lot of their players weren't kept in the loop which to her is the wrong approach. She hopes that tennis, as a sport, learns from that and keeps the players involved in any discussions.

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The PGA kind of went through a rough patch, then they decided to do something with them. A lot of the players felt really blindsided by it. I don't think we want to get to that point. I don't think we want to repeat what they just did. Hopefully we can kind of learn from that situation

Ultimately Pegula arrived at the conclusion that the benefits could outweigh the negatives. There are problems around any kind of deal but if they could help get the WTA Tour to have the same prize money as the ATP, then it could be a good deal overall. Pegula has been at the forefront of advocating for equal prize money for a long time.

I'm sure we'll talk and go about it. Especially, I mean, if they could help getting us to equal prize money, even though there are negatives, I think there's a lot of positives that can come out of it as well. yeah, hopefully something good comes out of it the right way.

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