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Dubai: Tennis has quickly become a popular sport in Saudi Arabia, with thousands of young people, including women and girls, joining clubs and participating in tournaments across the Kingdom, said Alij Mutabaghani, president of the Saudi Tennis Federation. Ta.
Appearing on Arab News’ current affairs show Frankly Speaking, Mutabaghani said it was enough to look at the numbers to see the huge potential of the sport, and that Saudi Arabia could participate in or even host major tournaments. said that it is increasing.
“Saudi Arabia has undergone great transformation, especially in the world of sports and the participation of women,” Mutabaghani said.
“The numbers speak for themselves. Female participation in sport has increased. Currently, 330,000 women are registered in the sport and approximately 14,000 women participate in tennis.”
Much of this success is due to government initiatives introduced under the Vision 2030 reform agenda, which has made investing in sport and promoting public health and wellbeing a top priority.
“We are partnering with the Sports for All Federation and working with the Ministry of Education on a large-scale program where we want to introduce tennis as a new sport to children,” Mutabaghani said. .
“We started with 30 schools across Saudi Arabia in 2023. We plan to increase to 90 schools in late 2023 and 2024 and expand to 400 schools.” She said it was divided into .
“Back in 2019, there were no women participating in clubs. Now there are seven clubs with women participating,” she added, adding that the newly formed women’s national team is already competing in 20 sports. It pointed out.
“Participation has also increased. In 2019 there were 90 women playing tennis, and now we have 700 women registered to play tennis.”
The Saudi Sports for All Federation is responsible for developing community sports and promoting healthy lifestyles across the Kingdom, in line with the country’s long-term development plan for socio-economic development, Vision 2030.
“We’ve seen the introduction of tennis into clubs,” Mutabaghani told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen. “In 2019, we had zero clubs participating in tournaments. We now have seven clubs with women participating. We have also increased tennis tournaments for women. There were three. Now we have 20. We can see that great progress has been made.”
![](https://www.arabnews.com/sites/default/files/pictures/February/1036116/2024/4210321-27814225.jpeg)
Saudi youth like Yara Alhoghbani are at the forefront of building a thriving tennis community in the kingdom. (Included)
Despite this success, tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova recently said they would not hold major events like the Women’s Tennis Association finals in Saudi Arabia due to the country’s lack of gender equality. He said it should be banned.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, rejected Evert and Navratilova’s “beyond disappointing” claims.
“Like many women around the world, we looked to tennis legends as trailblazers and role models…a beacon of hope that women truly can achieve everything,” she said. Told.
“But these champions have turned their backs on the same women they have inspired. This is such a shame.”
Undeterred by Evert and Navratilova’s comments, Mutabaghani invited tennis stars to visit Saudi Arabia to witness first-hand the transformation of Saudi sport and the huge strides made in women’s participation.
“Join us on this journey to transform and transform tennis, especially women’s participation. We will learn a lot from them and they just need to come and see for themselves.” she said.
“They have made a huge contribution to tennis and women’s participation, gender equality and equal prize money. I respect everyone’s freedom to speak and comment.
“But I really want them to come to Saudi Arabia and really see the progress. We are in a phase of change. We are going to change.”
Mutabaghani hopes Saudi Arabia will soon host a major tennis event or grand slam to further encourage Saudi Arabia to take up the sport.
“Anything is possible,” she said. “Holding this kind of international event in this country will shed more light on the sport of tennis. It will become more popular.
“The players will have role models to look up to. This will encourage the new generation to work harder and train more so that they can become champions in the future and compete in tournaments held in their countries. ”
![](https://www.arabnews.com/sites/default/files/pictures/February/1036116/2024/03.jpeg)
Appearing on Frankly Speaking, Alij Mutabagan told host Katie Jensen that the numbers show great potential for the sport in Saudi Arabia and that Saudi Arabia could participate in or host major tournaments. He said the possibility is increasing. (AN photo)
She added: “We are working hard on that. We are working closely with the WTA and ATP to make this possible and hopefully in the near future.”
Although nothing is set in stone, Mutabaghani is hopeful that the WTA or ATP will choose the Kingdom to host a Grand Slam.
“We strive to develop and build long-term relationships with tennis’ official governing bodies, whether it’s the ATP, WTA or ITF,” she said.
“We started our relationship with the ATP because we had a successful Next Generation Finals in Jeddah last year. Now we are looking to build our relationship with the WTA.”
The Grand Slam Championship, the most prestigious tournament in professional tennis, is organized by the WTA and ATP and supervised by the International Tennis Federation.
Mutabaghani predicts that these professional events will help increase participation in amateur sports across Saudi Arabia, especially among young people.
“We are still in discussions,” she said. “But our goal is to build all these relationships in the long term that will help develop tennis in Saudi Arabia, from challenges to the future, whether it’s big events or lower-tier events. Because it will raise the level of local tennis players.”
Saudi Arabia is looking to increase its presence in the sports world by establishing the LIV Golf Series, signing top soccer players like Cristiano Ronaldo and hosting the Next Generation ATP Finals in 2023.
“Tennis has played a very important role in the transformation of sports in Saudi Arabia,” Mutabaghani said. “We have seen this especially with the increase in the number of tennis events. We have started hosting the first international junior tournament to be held in Riyadh in 2022.”
Saudi Arabia hosted its first professional tournament in 2019 at the Diriyah Tennis Cup. Building on the success from 2019 to 2022, the next generation ATP Finals will be held in Riyadh from 2023 to 2027.
The Six Kings Slam men’s tennis exhibition will feature international tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, along with three other Grand Slam winners, in October.
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Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint Bandar, has rejected calls by tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova to ban the Women’s Tennis Association finals from being held in Saudi Arabia. Click here to read more.
There was initially some doubt as to how popular the tennis event would be, given that the sport is relatively new in Saudi Arabia. However, Mutabaghani said the players were excited about the number of spectators who attended the games.
“They were very happy with the audience,” she said. She said: “The stadium was packed for the exhibition match in Riyadh, the tickets were sold out and the audience was really, really enthusiastic.
“We realized that the audience understood the game of tennis, and that’s very important.”
Top international players usually start playing in sports academies or clubs at an early age. Saudi Arabia needs experienced coaches, trainers and specialized facilities to retain its top talent.
“Our main objective is to introduce tennis to the whole nation, starting from the grassroots, and grow the sport from there, focusing on high performance,” Mutabaghani said.
One of Saudi Arabia’s young tennis stars is 19-year-old Yara Alhoghbani.
“She is a great ambassador for the sport and an inspiration to a new generation of young children, both boys and girls,” Mutabaghani said.
Al Hoghbani played this year at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open with top international players such as Tunisian Ons Jabour, who is ranked sixth in the WTA, and Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the first Asian to be ranked number one in the world.
“(Al-Hogbani) worked hard from an early age,” Mutabaghani said. “She has two other brothers who are also her varsity athletes.”
She will play alongside her eldest brother Ammar at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, making history as the kingdom’s first professional mixed doubles team. Their middle brother, Saud, plays for Wake Forest University in the United States.
Al Hoghbani also met with tennis legends such as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the newly appointed ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation, during the Next Generation ATP Finals in Jeddah in December. . Nadal is committed to helping develop young talent in Saudi Arabia.
“It gave her a chance to feel what it means to be at a high level, and it inspired her to work harder, work harder and reach higher levels in the future.” Mutabagani said. “Having these opportunities can change someone’s future for the better, and they could become…the next generation of stars.”
When asked about his message to young Saudis who are thinking of taking up tennis, Mutabaghani, who has been a lifelong tennis player himself, replied, “Really pick up a tennis racket, try tennis, play tennis, and become the next generation of champions.” I want to tell them to become like that.” , lead by example on and off the court.
“Tennis is a life-learning experience that teaches you to be a great person before being a sportsman. So be an ambassador for tennis in Saudi Arabia on and off the court.”
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