WTA Will Consult Players Over Dubai's Snub of Israeli Tennis Star
Tour may scrap the event in the future.
Larry Scott, the Womens Tennis Association's Tour chief executive, claims that the tour's governing body could consider pulling out of the Dubai Tennis Championships after the United Arab Emirates refused to allow Israeli players into the country. Shahar Peer was denied entry into the UAE, effectively barring her from participating in this week's tournament.
Scott claims that although the event will go ahead as planned this year, the WTA will not just accept and will seriously consider their future association with the UAE and the Dubai Tennis Championships:
"We don't want [the decision to proceed with the tournament] to be interpreted as complacency and accepting what has happened, because it's not. We will take a decision about what is to be done only after consultation with the players and tournament directors. We don't have a timetable on this yet. This is a shock and it has to be digested."
Scott continued, adding:
"I knew there was an issue they would have to get over - that they don't have official relations with Israel, while there are security concerns as well.
In the last two months we have been in daily contact with them. I am surprised by the decision they took because of the significant ramifications there have been, not only in the world of professional tennis, but to the sporting agenda and beyond."
It looks like the WTA's threat of scraping the event in the future wasn't just an idle threat - they may actually follow through with it after discussions with the players and directors.
Comments
The women's tennis association says it does not discriminate. By allowing Dubai to discriminate against a Jewish tennis player, and not doing anything about it, shows that money is more important than their own rules. They should have pulled out of Dubai immediately and showed the world they would abide by their own rules. Shame on the players, and the tennis association for continuing as if nothing had happened!!
In the late 1960s, the University of Buffalo football team refused to play in a bowl game in the South because its black players would have been subjected to discrimination, and would have had to use separate locker rooms. 40 years later, this past fall, the UB Bulls finally made it to another bowl game, and the true heroic spirit of that 1960s team, players and coaches was brought to light and hailed as a true statement. If I was managing the Williams sisters, I would have had them tell the tournament directors, "if you don't allow the Jewish girl to play, we won't play either!" I'm surprised...they had a chance to make a real statement, not on the court, but off the court. Unlike the heroes of BUffalo, the Williams sisters (and others) missed a golden opportunity here to stand up against hatred.
I hate it when Politics get involved in Sports. I hate Politics.