Arij Mutabagani: WTA Finals can spark tennis boom in Saudi Arabia

When the WTA Finals arrives in Riyadh later this year, it will do so as more than just a tennis tournament.

The Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) has laid out its ambitious target of having one million active players by 2030, and while much is already being done to work towards that goal, nothing is more effective in getting children to pick up a racquet than seeing the best players in the world up close.

They will get that opportunity in November when the eight best singles players and eight leading doubles teams descend on Riyadh for the season-ending tournament.

Tennis has been growing in Saudi in recent years; there are currently 177 tennis clubs, up 146 per cent since 2019. In the last four years, the number of registered players has increased by 46 per cent to 2,300 and under-14 players are up 100 per cent – from 500 to more than 1,000. The STF also now holds 40 national tournaments annually and will host seven ITF Juniors tournaments this year.

Now with the imminent arrival of the WTA Tour’s flagship event, which will be based in Riyadh for the next five editions, tennis will become an increasingly visible part of the kingdom’s sporting landscape.

STF president Arij Mutabagani remembers when it was very different. During her speech at the WTA Finals launch event in Riyadh on Wednesday, she recalled when there was only one tennis club and the tennis scene was, well, there wasn’t one.

“It’s a dream come true. The little child who played at 12 years old could never have imagined that something like this would come to Saudi Arabia,” Mutabagani told The National. “I’m really happy and honoured and proud to say that I lived to see the day that this is happening. It’s just amazing. I have no words to express that.”

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