Tim Henman hits out at ‘disappointing’ crowd after 400 watch women’s finals in Saudi Arabia
4 November 2024, 10:31
Tim Henman has voiced concerns about the staging of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia after the second day drew a tiny crowd of only around 400 spectators.
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Former British No1 Henman said: “There’s been plenty of debate over whether sporting events should be coming to Saudi Arabia.
“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.”
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Up close with @CocoGauff at the #WTAFinals @SkySportsTennis pic.twitter.com/bADlhMCOhl
— Gigi Salmon (@gigi_salmon) November 3, 2024
After the first match of the day, in which Swiatek beat Barbora Krejcikova in three sets, Krejcikova said: “There weren’t that many fans but they made nice atmosphere.”
The WTA said in a statement: “We’re bringing tennis to a new audience and that takes time to build.
“We always anticipated lower attendance with the start of the Saudi working week on Sunday but anticipate that numbers will build as we approach the weekend.”
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova also questioned why there had been a lack of focus on crowd shots.
She has been vocal in her opposition to hosting the event in Saudi Arabia.
She posted on Twitter: “Finding it really weird not ever seeing the crowd when showing matches- not during the match and not at all after the match. Just odd….#WTAFinalsRiyadh.”
Navratilova and Chris Evert both declined to attend the event after calling the choice of Saudi Arabia ‘a significant step backwards, to the detriment of the WTA, women’s sports and women’.
On Sunday, the 5,000-seat stadium was less than 10% full, despite the cheapest tickets costing no more than around £6.
