holders have been allowed entry for meetings held by the United Nations or other international agencies.  However, Israel’s recent actions in Gaza have heightened tensions.  The WTA Tour rule C 3. regarding Conditions Of Tournament Membership states: "Equal Opportunity: The Tournament is open to all categories of female players without discrimination."  Although the “Sony Ericsson WTA Tour believes very strongly, and has a clear rule and policy, that no host country should deny a player the right to compete at a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking" the tournament is continuing as scheduled.  However, Larry Scott, CEO of the WTA Tour, has said that “…the Tour is reviewing appropriate remedies for Ms. Peer and also will review appropriate future actions with regard to the future of the Dubai tournament.”  Peer's brother said that Shahar had applied for a visa months in advance and was assured by the tournament organizers that she would be allowed entry.  The tournament initially didn’t explain why Peer had been denied a visa and issued a statement saying that "Shahar Peer has withdrawn and is replaced by lucky loser, Ayumi Morita."  Subsequently, the tournament said that concerns regarding security were the reason Peer’s visa was denied.  Last year, Peer made history when she became the first Israeli to play a Gulf Arab region event when she played the Qatar Open.  A  month ago, Peer was the focus of protests over Israel's recent three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip while competing at a tournament in New Zealand.  There are several major issues raised by this situation.  First, should the WTA Tour have cancelled the tournament this year after it denied Peer a visa?  This was not realistic given that the tournament “pulled a fast one “ by waiting until a day before the event was scheduled to start to deny Peer the visa.  At that point, over 50 players would have been affected at this important WTA Tour tournament which is one of the few on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour calendar to have all top ten players required to compete.  Secondly, how should Shahar Peer be compensated for the lost ranking points, prize money and travel expenses?  It’s tough to sort out an equitable arrangement, but at a minimum, Peer should receive first round prize money, have her related travel expenses covered and possibly be awarded first round ranking points.  Thirdly, should the 2009 Dubai tournament be penalized for its actions financially or otherwise?  The event is quite successful having sold out all its tickets very quickly and it should be assessed a fine by the WTA Tour.  Finally, should the tournament be removed from the WTA Tour calendar in the future? It would be a tough financial blow for the Tour to walk away from a successful tournament which offers $2 million in prize money, but it must enforce the rules.  Who can now tell if the tournament will renege on its promises at the eleventh hour again next year?  There has already been financial fallout for the event this year as Tennis Channel in the United States cancelled its plans to televise the tournament and The Wall Street Journal dropped its sponsorship of the event.  According to Peer, “I firmly believe that my fellow competitors should not be harmed the way I was… and denying them the right to play in this year's tournament at the last moment would not make the wrong right… I am confident that the Tour will take appropriate actions to ensure that this injustice is not allowed to occur in the future, and that the Tour will make sure I will not be further harmed in the short and long term. There should be no place for politics or discrimination in professional tennis or indeed any sport.”  Peer has said she would like to keep sports separate from politics, but also implied that she hopes that peaceful co-existence on the tennis court could lead to a greater understanding between people.  In the end, the WTA (and ATP) tennis tours should not hold tournaments in countries that don’t allow players to compete because of the nationality on their passport.

Posted by TC at 09:23 PM |