Sports have a way of bringing people of different religions and creeds together, and they also present athletes with the platform to speak up for those who don’t have the voices to speak up for themselves.
American tennis star Coco Gauff found herself in that exact situation. Gauff will be competing against fellow American Jessica Pegula in the group stage of the WTA Finals. The catch? The pair will face each other in Ridya, Saudi Arabia.
Gauff isn’t afraid to speak out on the injustices that are rumored to happen in Saudi Arabia either. According to FOX Sports, Gauff met with Saudi Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud to discuss how women are treated in Saudi Arabia.
“We spoke with a lot of women here in Saudi,” Gauff said, via FOX.
“One of them was Princess Reema. Multiple calls with her, how the best approach would be to enter into this different place that women have never kind of, women from U.S., have never kind of been in.”
Gauff elaborated on what she thought was important to address with the princess too. “I think for me it was important, and it was one of the questions I brought up because about LGBTQ issues, women’s rights issues, how we can help with that.”
She also got honest about being hesitant to even compete in the country.
“I would be lying to you if I said I had no reservations. Obviously, you know who I am and the things I speak about.
I was pretty much on every player call I could make with WTA. One of the things I said, if we come here, we can’t just come here and play our tournament and leave. Like, we have to have a real program or real plan in place.”
It’s great to know that America’s young athletes know what’s important.
