WTA FINALS

November 1, 2024

Arij Almutabagani

Portia Archer

Marina Storti

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

ARIJ ALMUTABAGANI: Welcome to the WTA Finals. For those who do not know me, I am Arij Almutabagani. I am president of the Saudi Tennis Federation.

We could not be more excited to host the first women's professional tennis event here in Saudi Arabia, the start of a three-year partnership with the WTA. Myself and my colleagues at the federation have a very simple responsibility: to help grow the game of tennis both on court and off throughout Saudi Arabia.

We announced the launch ceremony in June. Our aim is to inspire one million into tennis by 2030. I have no doubt that our partnership with the WTA will have a huge impact in helping us realize our ambition.

We are making great progress growing tennis in Saudi Arabia. Our tennis clubs are up nearly 150% since 2019. Registered players are up 46%. We now have over 14,000 female tennis players.

I'm sure that many of these young players will be watching this and dreaming of competing in the WTA Finals one day. That is why we are hosting this event: to help inspire our people to pick up a racquet and get involved.

We know the more they play, the greater the chance that one day we'll be watching a young Saudi player compete on the greatest tennis stage.

The potential and opportunity for tennis in Saudi is huge. We are grateful for the partnership and collaboration with our friends and colleagues at the WTA.

Thank you.

PORTIA ARCHER: Good afternoon. Thank you, Arij, for that very warm welcome.

It is a great pleasure to be here for the first edition of the WTA Finals held here. This event is the crown jewel of the Hologic WTA Tour season.

For the past 10 months, the world's best tennis players have competed fiercely for the right to be here and to stake their claim to the title.

For the next eight days, these incredible players will bring the thrill of every serve, every rally, every match point to fans here in Riyadh and around the world as they battle to be crowned the next WTA Finals champion.

For the WTA itself, this is a very significant moment. We are, of course, bringing the Finals to your country, starting a new partnership with the Saudi Tennis Federation and the Ministry of Sport. Our vision is to grow tennis as a global and inclusive sport, and as a part of this to elevate the WTA Finals as our premier tournament.

The partnership with the Saudi Tennis Federation and the Ministry of Sport supports our ambition to deliver a world-class event for our players and for our fans and to continue to grow the profile of the WTA Finals.

As a result, the 2024 Finals will offer a record prize fund of $15.25 million US. This will increase further in each of the two next years.

The Saudi Tennis Federation, under Arij's leadership, is doing so much great work to accelerate the development of tennis in this country. The WTA is also committed to making a positive impact both on and off the court, providing a great experience for fans and for players alike, and a lasting legacy at the community level here in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh in particular.

I must also thank PIF, the official presenting partner of the WTA Finals Riyadh, for their valued support for tennis. As a global partner of the WTA, PIF are helping us to grow and strengthen the sport at all levels.

Finally, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank our sponsor Hologic and all of our commercial and broadcast partners. Without their support, none of this would be possible.

So after months of anticipation, the WTA Finals are finally here. This week is just the start. We cannot wait to get going. Let the games begin.

MARINA STORTI: Good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be here as CEO of WTA Ventures. My focus is to ensure that the WTA can become bigger and better in the future, opening up more opportunities for women in tennis all over the world.

Bringing the WTA Finals to Riyadh is a positive step on this journey. It brings professional women's tennis to a new market, whereas we all know sports has been developing extremely quickly in the recent years.

It connects us to a new audience of young fans, not just here in Saudi Arabia, but across the wider Middle East region. We hope the Finals will allow them to fall in love with our sport, our incredible athletes and their stories.

As Portia said, the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation also share the commitment to delivering a positive impact that reaches beyond (indiscernible) itself.

We're working closely to deliver a range of grassroots and community programs over the three years of our partnership. These are focused on three pillars:

Community tennis and workforce training.

Women's health and engagement.

Youth engagement.

To help inspire the next generation, we are delighted the brilliant Judy Murray is playing a big part in delivering the Community Tennis Program. Over the last few months, Judy has been visiting schools with WTA ambassadors to deliver training sessions for children and provide training for the workforce.

This past week we provided training for aspiring coaches and hosted a training camp for coaches and mentoring for some of Saudi Arabia's top young girls.

As part of the women's health pillar, we are working with our title sponsor Hologic to bring the Facing Cancer Campaign to Riyadh, and putting awareness and raising funds across the Finals.

In youth engagement we have worked with Special Olympics Saudi Arabia to host a tennis clinic for Special Olympic athletes. We are really energized by the opportunity to support tennis in Saudi Arabia. There will be more to come for the next two years.

I'd also like to echo Portia's words in thanking all of our partners for supporting us not only here in Saudi Arabia but all over the world.

Thank you.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I see a lot of familiar faces. It's funny. Good afternoon, everybody.

I feel very privileged to serve as the tournament director of the WTA Finals for this and the next two years. This is a tournament that I loved to play in. Winning the title in 2021 will forever be a highlight of my WTA career. I know how special this event is for players, and I'm excited to be able to contribute in this role.

Our aim this week is to present a showcase for women's tennis that helps to grow the sport and encourages more people, especially women and girls, to start playing. As a part of this, we're focused on delivering a high-quality experience both for players and fans.

For players, there's been a significant investment in the facilities here in King Saudi University, and we're especially pleased with the personal locker rooms we have created for them.

For the first time ever at a WTA event, the 2024 Finals will introduce the video review technology. This is a part of our commitment to continue progress. Thanks must go to the Saudi Tennis Federation for helping with this innovation.

None of this would have been possible without excellent collaboration between the WTA, Saudi Tennis Federation, Ministry of Sport, or the valued support of our official partner PIF.

I would like to thank the entire team for their work so far and hope you will enjoy some thrilling action this week.

Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: As a former player and champion of this event, how have you and your team worked to make sure the WTA Finals Riyadh sets itself apart for the fans and all the players?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I think it's been a teamwork. It's been a lot of work. It's been amazing, incredible journey, making sure that the players are going to get the best, the best court, best locker rooms, practice, energy.

So far they've been very happy. I've been chasing them everywhere trying to make sure they feel comfortable, that they feel they get what they deserve.

I'm just very glad to witness this and be part of the journey.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. What's the significance of hosting the event of this size? How important is it for female sports? What makes this tournament special standing out from other tennis tournaments hosted in the kingdom?

ARIJ ALMUTABAGANI: Thank you for the questions.

For the first part as to the importance of this tournament in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this tournament is considered a championship as one of the largest for the WTA. The top eight players individually and the top eight teams in doubles will compete for the Cup.

This will serve as an inspiration source and be consistent with our plan to inspire one million people to join tennis by 2030. This will help us that those lovers of tennis, whether the public, whether the players, anyone in the ecosystems of tennis, to observe closely. This plays a pivotal role in growing the game in Saudi Arabia.

For the second part of the question that is concerned with the significance of this championship in terms of female sport, this is not new for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The KSA has hosted more than a hundred events, sporting events, starting from 2015, spreading the awareness about sports in order to have a dynamic, healthy community. Moreover to present the Kingdom portfolio hosting and encouraging tourism, encouraging sport in general, and specifically female sports.

In tennis, there's only one champion that is No. 1, but if they love the tennis, there are opportunities to be involved, whether as a coach or an umpire or physiotherapy. There are so many fields, and all of them will help to increase the involvement in the ecosystem of tennis in KSA.

Q. As CEO of the WTA, are you at all concerned about the optics bringing the WTA Finals to a country that ranks 126 out of 146 in the global gender gap index?

PORTIA ARCHER: Thank you.

I understand that there are certain different views and tensions around that question - 'the optics', as you described.

I think what we've done at the WTA through our process of deciding to come here was to keep in mind the goals and objectives that Marina laid out for the WTA. I think it helps us achieve those goals and objectives.

Our decision was made with full consultation with our players and with our tournaments. I think that that led to the decision to come here and being comfortable with it.

We as the WTA are a global sport, a global association. We play tournaments all around the world. We have players from nearly 90 different countries or nations. We often play in environments and in countries that have different customs, different cultures, and in some cases different value systems than I might have personally or that the WTA may have as an organization based in the United States, for example. We take care to respect those local customs. We may not always agree with some of the policies in place in a particular country.

We feel comfortable in our decision and we think that it will support women in tennis and enable some very positive things to come out of us being here that will last well beyond the eight days that we're here this year and successively the next two years when we host the tournament here.

Q. Portia, last year Steve Simons said there were tons of issues that needed to be resolved when it came to potentially bringing the Finals here to Saudi Arabia. Could you explain to us what has changed in that time frame to consider Saudi Arabia a suitable host.

PORTIA ARCHER: Thank you for that question. I've heard a lot about the experiences at the WTA Finals last year.

I feel very, very confident and comfortable in being here. I've seen the standards that we've set. I've seen the event live and firsthand over the last several days.

I don't think it will have any resonance with the experience in Cancun, for example. I think the players are very happy. We've engaged a WTA legend in Garbine to help guide us through everything that we might want to do in support of the players. We really want to make sure that they have a fabulous experience, that we create an environment that is world class for them from a performance and health standpoint, but also make sure they have experiences off the court that allow them to take part in the Saudi culture, which we think is quite rich, that they'll value and benefit from.

I feel very confident in being here. The players so far have had very positive feedback about their experience. I personally have had a wonderful experience since coming here several days ago.

We're still a work in progress. This is our first year. But I feel very confident that everyone involved, including the fans, will have a great experience here.

Q. Portia, I think a lot of fans from the LGBTQ community and women feel uncomfortable. I wonder your message specifically to them, that they are being listened to? Also, you mentioned countries' values... Is there a limit to that or you will go wherever is best for the players and the overall picture?

PORTIA ARCHER: See if I can remember the questions because there were several baked in there (smiling).

To the first question, just around our fans. We have a diverse group of fans. We respect all of our fans. We respect differences in views, as well.

What I would say is not so much to the fan community, I would say with respect to our players for the most part. We respect their right and their ability to express themselves freely. We will always support that.

We've been in the Middle East for over 20 years now. This is our first time in Riyadh, but we've been in the Middle East more broadly for 20-plus years.

We've actually never had any issues with freedom of expression, at least not that I'm aware of. I don't expect that we'll have any while we're here in Riyadh. That is what I would say primarily to our players.

In terms of the questions that you asked... Tell me again the second part of that question.

Q. You mentioned the WTA doesn't need to be aligned necessarily with the values of the country you're in. Is there a sort of limit to that or does that mean you would go anywhere as long as you felt it was the right thing for the players and the tour in general?

PORTIA ARCHER: Yeah, maybe I misspoke. My intention was to really say that we respect the values, even if they differ from other countries that we find ourselves in and compete in.

I don't know 'limitations'. It's difficult for me to say where we would draw the line, so to speak. I do know we take great care to think about these decisions as to where we go. We take care to have a thorough process that includes all of the stakeholders involved.

We do weigh what tradeoffs there are. We do try to stay in alignment with the WTA values. I wouldn't say just 'try', we do stay in alignment with WTA values in that we make sure that our players, our fans, our staff are in environments and that we are in alignment with our values as it relates to us coming to a particular country, making sure we can operate in alignment with those.

I don't feel that there's some limit, but I certainly know that there are cases and instances where we won't go to certain countries if we don't have that comfort that we're going to be able to operate in a way that is in alignment with our goals and with our values.

Q. As Portia mentioned, tennis has been coming to the Middle East for over 20 years. We haven't seen a player come out of Qatar or UAE. In your opinion, what is Saudi doing to make sure that bringing a big event actually does translate into actual talent coming up? Have you consulted other federations to try to learn from their mistakes and make sure it is not purely an entertainment thing, it's actually a practical thing?

ARIJ ALMUTABAGANI: We're actually working very closely with the WTA to make sure that this event has an impact being grassroots and moving there all the way to the final (indiscernible).

We don't want to have an event here that has no meaning at the end. Anything we bring here regarding the tennis has to leave a legacy, which is the biggest impact we can have.

Seeing it firsthand will definitely inspire a lot of players or fans. First of all, we need to introduce the sport, because in Saudi Arabia it's just a new sport, we're at the beginning. From there, we started with schools. We have a lot of kids playing tennis. From there, hopefully we will try to develop these talents by hosting junior tournaments. They will develop the talents. Then we can scout the top players that we can take and really move forward with them and concentrate on them.

We're working on infrastructure, to have more tennis courts. That will also raise the level. So having the mix of international, ITFs, juniors, challengers and futures, this will raise the level. But having these big events is going to be a catalyst for the players to really start somewhere. Then we're looking at the whole ecosystem. It's not just the players.

It's going to be great. We have been talking to other federations in the region very closely. We're trying to work together because we are very close. We all work in collaboration where we have tournaments that don't clash. We make sure we have a series of tournaments, whether it's Dubai, then Bahrain, then Saudi Arabia. We're also planning on having joint camps together where our kids can compete against their kids.

It's a work in progress, but hopefully we'll get there and one day we'll see one of our players competing on the highest level as possible.

Q. What preparations have you made to make sure that the players have a better experience? Why did you choose King Saudi University as the stadium for this game and the FIFA World Cup?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Your question is?

Q. What's the preparations you have made to make sure the fans will have a better experience?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I think providing a great center court with a lot of entertainment. I think they're going to appreciate. We have a great Fan Zone. It's on the works. If you can go outside, you can see it. It's going to be very interesting for all the players of different nationalities. They get to see every player. Once in a while they're having the meet-and-greets.

The best eight players, that's unique. I think that's the only tournament that has it, as well as the round-robin format that makes it fierce. I think the combination will do good things for fans.

ARIJ ALMUTABAGANI: Regarding the choice of this venue, actually was combined efforts with the WTA. Of course, we wanted to make sure that it fits their requirements.

KSU is the hub of all the students. This is what we're aspiring to have as future tennis tournaments, to introduce the sport. It's a young population, and it's the right location for us to be where we have all the students around us. They'll create a great audience.

The facilities are actually the perfect facilities. It's very adequate. It has a proper place where we can have the center court, all the other offices, amenities we need to make this a great and successful event.

Q. Portia, you mentioned you didn't expect there to be any freedom of expression issues. My question is, have you briefed the players on what is and isn't acceptable to say?

PORTIA ARCHER: No, we haven't. No, we haven't done any briefings that relate to that. Players can express themselves freely. There's no sort of briefing that was required.

What we have expressed to our players, and will reexpress to our players when we're in new environments, this is a new country for the WTA, this is a new country for many of our players, that we are asked questions that the players had.

We did provide answers to those questions, things around dress or clothing. For example, there were questions about head covering being required, if you had to wear clothes that were custom to the local environment. We answered those questions appropriately, that you can be not covered.

Those kinds of questions were things that we were providing guidance on.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all so much.