Daria Kasatkina
Daria Kasatkina returns a shot to Iga Swiatek in their round robin singles match during Day 6 of the 2024 WTA Finals at King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. | Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for WTA

Daria Kasatkina — one of the most high-profile out gay athletes in women’s sports — has played in the WTA Finals with her girlfriend watching on courtside in Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is criminalized.

The Russian-born world No. 9 took on second seed Iga Swiatek in Riyadh on Thursday as an alternate, following the withdrawal of the USA’s Jessica Pegula through injury.

Swiatek dominated the group-stage match, winning 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes. It was the Pole’s sixth victory in seven career meetings with Kasatkina.

During the match, live TV coverage cut to shots of Kasatkina’s girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako, with her distinctive silver-colored hair, sitting in the players’ box.

Last year, Kasatkina voiced concerns about the prospect of playing in Saudi, although she also admitted that “money talks” when it comes to making decisions on where tournaments are held.

She was named Outsports Female Hero of the Year in 2023 for speaking out against Putin’s war in Ukraine and for her growing candour around being a gay athlete, having come out publicly the year before.

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The 27-year-old is no stranger to playing in countries with anti-gay laws, having competed in the Abu Dhabi Open and the Qatar Open earlier in 2024.

In Riyadh, there is a US $335,000 fee on offer for players participating in the WTA Finals, which has a total prize pot of over $15m and is in the first year of a three-year deal.

The huge sums on offer have been made possible by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Saudi kingdom.

Accusations of sportswashing continue to be levelled at PIF projects, not least the WTA Finals, which is the first major women’s sports event to be held in the country.

Kasatkina had been waiting in the Saudi capital since the weekend to see if she might get the call to play.

Back in May, the 27-year-old was provided with assurances by WTA chiefs and organizers that she would be allowed to share a hotel room with her girlfriend during the tournament.

It is not known if the couple, who live in Barcelona, are rooming together in Riyadh, although Zabiiako did share a video on Instagram earlier in the week showing herself walking down a hotel corridor. The post, liked by Kasatkina, contained the hashtag “#love” in the caption.

At the weekend, all eight players in the main draw had been asked by BBC Sport during a press conference if they had “any reservations or concerns” about coming to Saudi, “particularly around women’s rights and the LGBTQ+ community”.

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have been among the tennis greats to openly criticize the WTA’s decision to stage its season-ending tournament in the country.

Responding to BBC Sport, former U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff said: “I would be lying to you if I said I had no reservations. You guys know who I am and the things I speak about. I was pretty much on every player call I could make with WTA.”

Gauff added: “We spoke with a lot of women here in Saudi… One of the questions that I brought up was about LGBTQ issues and women’s rights issues and how we can help with that.”

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However, the sister of a prominent Saudi human rights activist who is serving a lengthy jail term in the country has since accused the players of being complicit in sportswashing.

Manahel al-Otaibi, a 30-year-old fitness instructor, was sentenced in January for “terrorism offences” based upon social media posts she made in support of women’s rights.

Her elder sister, Fawzia, who now lives in Edinburgh, told Australia’s ABC News: “I feel terrible to see my sister is in a prison, and the other women from outside came to play [tennis].”

Last month, Kasatkina celebrated the eighth tournament win of her WTA career at the Ningbo Open in China.

She had been offered the chance to compete at the Paris Olympics as a neutral athlete but declined the invitation.

Alongside talk of human rights in Saudi Arabia, there has also been criticism of low attendances at the WTA Finals so far this week.

In an arena with a 5,000-seater capacity, some group-stage matches have attracted barely 400 fans.

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