Martina Navratilova will not attend the WTA Finals as a pundit following the decision to take the event to Saudi Arabia.
It was announced earlier this month that a deal to take the season-ending event to the Middle East for the next three years had been signed off.
Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam winner, spoke out against the idea earlier this year alongside Chris Evert.
And the Laureus Academy member confirmed she would not travel to Saudi to work the event when she was asked at a press conference ahead of Monday night's award ceremony in Madrid, saying: “I’m not planning on that.”
Despite doubling down on her stance, Navratilova also stressed that the final decision over going to Saudi belonged to the players. She said: “We’re going to Saudi Arabia which is about as big a change as you can make except for maybe going to North Korea. Chris Evert and I have made our views clear on that, but the players have made their choices.
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“One of the comments I heard, one of the players said they ‘don’t want to be political’. Going to Saudi is about as political you can get. Welcome to sport. Sports is political. Sport has been at the forefront of social change. I don’t see how anything happens there without the blessing of MBS. He decides what goes and what doesn’t.
“We’re a bit egotistical to think we can make a difference but who knows. Maybe this is a good thing, we’ll see how this goes. The players have to honour that, they’re the ones competing. We’re not affected by it. We’re not going there to play.”
The 25th Laureus World Sports Awards take place on Monday evening in Madrid. To find out more, and follow the ceremony, visit www.laureus.com
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