NEW YORK (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s move into tennis will now include a multiyear deal to sponsor the WTA women’s rankings. The WTA released word of its partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Monday, a move that follows last month’s news that the kingdom will host the tour’s season-ending championships in Riyadh starting this year and February’s announcement that it will sponsor the ATP men’s rankings. Both tours’ rankings deals are for five years. The PIF is the first naming-rights partner for the WTA rankings and the new arrangement also includes plans to promote tennis at lower levels of the sport. Tennis has been consumed lately by the debate over whether the sport should follow golf and others in making deals with Saudi Arabia, where rights groups say women continue to face discrimination in most aspects of family life and homosexuality is a major taboo, as it is in much of the rest of the Middle East. |
Astronomers find quasar that shines 500 trillion times brighter than our sunGoldman, Brown families could be first in line for OJ Simpson's assets'Immaculate' review: Things get scary for Sydney Sweeney in a conventBook Review: Hampton Sides revisits Captain James Cook, a divisive figure in the South PacificRussia aborts planned test launch of new space rocket2025 Oscars: Academy Awards announces March 2 dateFalter beats former team, leads Pirates over Phillies 5JPMorgan Chase, Advanced Micro Devices fall; Progressive, State Street rise, 4/12/2024This simple log structure may be the oldest example of early humans building with woodSolar eclipse sweeps across North America. The moment of totality, in photos