"Are we telling her to take a week off of her sexuality": Andy Roddick and Jon Wertheim see caveats in WTA Finals Saudi Arabia bid using Kasatkina example

With continued discourse with potential moves for the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia, there is certain stumbling blocks and Andy Roddick and Jon Wertheim on the latest episode of Served used Daria Kasatkina as an example.

Kasatkina came out as gay last year and with laws against homosexuality in Saudi Arabia, questions about the safety about the Russian if she qualified which given her high stature in the game and ranking is a possibility could happen. It is already an issue for her if she wants to return to Russia no mind playing in the WTA Finals and for Roddick and Wertheim, they said that the WTA needs to lay out conditions for Saudi Arabia before they go there in order to protect player safety.

"The devil is in the details. Homosexuality is illegal. But we have openly gay players. Kasatkina came out last year. If she goes there to play, are we just telling her to take a week off of her sexuality? How do we protect our own players who’s life choices are viewed as criminal when they enter this place? How do we protect those mechanisms? And can whatever is said now be trusted when it’s in practice?" said Roddick.

“So what if we said ‘We’re really thrilled & flattered by your interest. Here’s what we need to see before we move our tour there. We have openly gay players. It’s not only awkward, it’s really problematic & disturbing that homosexuality has not been decriminalized," said Wertheim in response." It’s like any business with KPI, right? Here are the thresholds we need to see. Hit these & were good to go. I think tennis has more leverage here than it gives itself credit for. Maybe the WTA needs to say, ‘Listen, before we can commit, we need to see XYZ.’ If the Saudis say they’ll go find another sport, then so be it.”

“Again, the devil is in the details. Can tennis say to the Saudis ‘We’d love to have a partnership, there’s a lot of potential. We could use your cash infusion. But we need to see a certain number of conditions met before we sign on the dotted line here.’”