During a press conference, Jessica Pegula outlined in detail why she is comfortable with Saudi Arabia hosting the 2024 WTA Finals.
Pegula will start her campaign in Riyadh against Coco Gauff on Sunday. She played doubles with Gauff at the Paris Olympics and also has a good record against the 20-year-old, which she undoubtedly hopes will give her an edge.
The two-time Canadian Open champion can also finish as the world No. 3 and as the American No. 1 if she wins the 2024 WTA Finals. Pegula was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek at last year's iteration of the year-end tournament.
Pegula's withdrawal from the Billie Jean King Cup also means the WTA Finals will be her last tournament of the season, giving the current world No. 6 even greater incentive to give it everything before the off-season begins.
Although this year's WTA Finals got off to a terrific start on Saturday, some feel Saudi Arabia should not host such a prestigious tournament due to its history of oppressing women and the LGBTQ community.
US Open runner-up Pegula explained why she has no problem competing in Saudi Arabia, mentioning how inspired she has already been by those who have told her about the impact of the WTA Finals being played in the country.
"We've had long discussions about it. It's been in the works I feel like for a while. To me, I mean, we've been already able to do a lot of things here for a lot of the young girls, the young women. I've had several people come up to me and just tell me how amazing it is to see us competing here, how it's really going to help the sport, help a lot of young girls."
"This woman told me yesterday they've got 60,000 I think girls now playing tennis in schools. We got to do Special Olympics the other day where it was girls that have said they just started playing tennis or starting to learn to play tennis. I feel like when you have those moments, you know on the good side what you're doing for the sport."
Pegula acknowledged there are pros and cons to going anywhere but is confident that the players know their goals for trying to grow tennis in Saudi Arabia.
"Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of debate back and forth, a lot of pros and cons and everything. We knew if we came here what our kind of goals were as far as growing it for women, helping women play, a lot of young girls, doing a lot of activations with them and stuff like that."
"We know, of course, anywhere you go, there is pros and cons. I think we were just working on the good messaging that we were able to do and to send, and what we could really do to transform the game here in the country."
Many women in Saudi Arabia are undoubtedly excited about the WTA Finals being held there. Whether that leads to tangible improvements in women's rights remains to be seen.