American women’s tennis star Coco Gauff is set to compete against fellow American Jessica Pegula in Ridya, Saudi Arabia, for the World Tennis Tour championships on Sunday. 

But while she’s been in the Middle Eastern country, Gauff also claims to have met with Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud to discuss the treatment of women there. Bandar Al Saud is royalty in the country because her paternal grandfather is former Crown Prince Sultan. And she currently serves as the 11th Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the U.S.

“We spoke with a lot of women here in Saudi. 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 told reporters on Friday. 

“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.”

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Gauff admitted her father was concerned about her taking the trip to the country amid its systematic discrimination against women. 

“Obviously I’m a woman. I was very concerned. My dad was very concerned with me coming here,” Gauff said. 

Gauff admitted she had “reservations” about participating in the event due to the location being in Saudi Arabia. She cited the country’s treatment of women and people in the LGBT community. 

“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,” Gauff said. 

She compared the situation to what her grandmother went through during the integration of public schools in the U.S. more than 60 years ago. 

“I think knowing from the past from my grandmother, integrating her school, people aren’t going to like it, but obviously in the long run I think it could be better for everybody,” Gauff said.  

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Coco Gauff of the United States is seen during a press conference ahead of the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 12. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Gauff’s maternal grandmother, Yvonne Lee Odom, enrolled in the previously all-White Seacrest High School (now Atlantic Community High School) in Florida in 1961. It was seven years after Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that desegregated public schools. Odom is hailed as a popular civil rights activist in her community of West Palm Beach, Florida. 

Gauff now says she intends to leave an impact on Saudi Arabia, amid the country’s many known controversial human rights violations. 

“Obviously I’m very aware of the situation here in Saudi. I mean, my view on it is, I do think that sport can have a way to open doors to people. I think in order to kind of want change, you have to see it. I think sports, for me, I would say, is the easiest way to kind of introduce that,” she said. 

“Hopefully with WTA coming here and they pledged for the next three years to help the future Stars Program here in Saudi, have introduced more Saudi women especially into the sport. I think their goal is to have a million people playing tennis here by 2030. Hopefully with that, people can see us, what we represent, and hopefully that will enact more equality.”

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Coco Gauff of the United States is seen between points against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their women’s singles final match on Day Thirteen of the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, on Sept. 9, 2023. (Coco Gauff)

In Saudi Arabia, the male guardianship system was enshrined into law in 2022, which means that women must have a male legal guardian — and they cannot choose who this is. Many of the women who supported a campaign against a ban on female drivers were imprisoned and harassed, despite the fact that the law was then changed to allow women to drive.

The country also prohibits LGBT relationships, public displays of affection and gender expression, with severe societal stigma, discrimination and legal repercussions for LGBT individuals, including imprisonment, fines or death penalty.

A Saudi Arabian political writer, Raif Badawi, was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for “insulting Islam” and founding an online forum for political debate. He was due to be flogged 50 times every week. In 2022, he was finally released, but he faces a travel ban, meaning that after not seeing his family for 12 years, he will have to wait another nine years.

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