Tim Henman has called the Saudi Arabian WTA Finals into question after a disappointing turnout on the opening weekend.
There has been plenty of backlash over the WTA’s decision to stage their premier tournament in Saudi Arabia, a nation with a history of suppressing women’s rights.
But Henman has another issue with the tournament – the lack of crowd turnout.
Day two of the WTA Finals saw five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek storm back to beat Barbora Krejcikova before Coco Gauff faced Jessica Pegula. Olympic gold medallists Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani were also in doubles action.
But, according to the Telegraph, only 400 people turned up to watch the world’s best female tennis players in action in the 5,000-seater court at the King Saud University Indoor Arena. The low turnout was especially questionable given that the cheapest tickets cost £6.
There is big money on the line in Saudi Arabia’s first official tour-level event – a record prize fund of £11.5million ($15m) is on offer – and the hosts don’t need to worry about making a profit from the tournament.
Henman is in Riyadh to cover the tournament for Sky Sports this week. And he questioned organisers for not taking action to fill the seats. “There’s been plenty of debate over whether sporting events should be coming to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“But if we move past that and just look at this WTA Finals as an event, it’s extremely disappointing when you’ve got the world’s best players – Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff – performing in front of a crowd like that today.
“The organisers here are in a privileged position where they’re not trying to necessarily make money out of the gate receipts.
“So they should get out into the communities and into the schools, because we need spectators here to witness the best players and create that atmosphere.”
It’s not the first time crowd attendance at the WTA Finals has come into question. Over the last two years, the women’s tennis tour had to find a last-minute host city for their season-ending championships and they struggled to sell tickets on short notice.
But former world No. 4 Henman believes organisers of the Riyadh edition have no excuse. He continued: “Texas and Cancun were both arranged at the last minute,” said Henman. “Whereas the announcement of Riyadh came back in April.
“I think the organisers have got to look at the lack of fans. The way that they’ve built the facility and looked after the players has been really impressive.
“But the allocation of tickets – I don’t think you can even call it a ticket sale, when this isn’t really a commercial operation – needs to be taken more seriously. Today, the crowd was almost non-existent.”
While the WTA Finals is the first high-profile, professional tennis tournament to be held in the Kingdom, the Saudis already have some experience with the sport. The Next Gen ATP Finals – a tournament showcasing the best male players aged 20 and under – was staged in Jeddah last year.
The Six Kings Slam, featuring the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, was held in Riyadh over three days in October. The star-studded exhibition event managed to bring the crowds in.
