Tim Henman has spent some criticisms for the WTA Finals, which for the first time is being held in Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh, at the King Saud University Indoor Arena. After the first days of the tournament, the British former star has highlighted an aspect that he really doesn’t like about this edition of the year-end tournament reserved for the 8 best players in the world.
Henman lashed out at the presence (or rather, the absence) of the crowd. Alluding to the fact that there were only a few hundred people in the Riyadh arena, the Briton said he was very disappointed by the very low turnout – for example – to follow the matches Iga Swiatek vs Barbora Krejcikova and Coco Gauff vs Jessica Pegula, analyzing, in an interview for Sky Sport:
“It is extremely disappointing to see the best players in the world, such as Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, performing in front of a crowd like this. There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not to organize sporting events in Saudi Arabia. Let’s try to look beyond that for a moment and look at the WTA Finals as an event, it is extremely disappointing to see the best players in the world performing in front of a crowd as small as the one on Sunday. The organizers are in a privileged position because they don’t necessarily need to make money from the revenue they receive from ticket sales. So they should go to schools, because we need spectators to see the best players in the world and create the atmosphere.”
Below is a video of the empty stands in Riyadh:
Second day of the WTA Finals drew an embarrassingly tiny crowd of around 400 spectators, reopening the debate about the decision to bring elite tennis to Riyadh
✍️& 📹@simonrbriggshttps://t.co/zqnVdVU4Vb#TelegraphSport pic.twitter.com/yrkHzolH53
— Telegraph Sport (@TelegraphSport) November 4, 2024
Gauff d. Swiatek 6-3 6-4 at WTA Finals in Riyadh
Huge win for Coco.
Coco was 1-11 against Iga coming into this & had lost their last 4 matches.
In her last match, she was 1-4 against Pegula & also got the win.
✅Into SF
✅Won 11 of last 12 matchesMaking a statement.
🇺🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/u9cWXsgeyp
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 5, 2024