With all the fallout concerning the denying of women's tennis player Shahar Peer's ((pictured, thanks yahoosports)) Israeli visa to play in this week's event in the United Arab Emirates, the Women's Tennis Association is debating their next step in dealing with one of their more lucrative tournaments of the year.
From the USA Today via Howard Bloom...
"Speaking in a telephone interview, the head of the WTA Tour, Larry Scott, said the WTA will consider "what types of sanctions are going to be deemed to be appropriate in light of what has happened, including whether or not the tournament has a slot on the calendar next year."
Asked if there is a risk that the tournament could be dropped if Peer does not get redress, Scott replied: "You could say that, yes."
"There's two things we need to consider: what's the future fate of the Dubai tournament and what sanctions apply and the second thing is how does Shahar get treated fairly, how does her situation get redressed?" Scott, the WTA tour's chairman and CEO, told The Associated Press.
In Israel, in a statement to the AP, Peer said: "I am very disappointed that I have been prevented from playing in the Dubai tournament. I think a red line has been crossed here that could harm the purity of the sport and other sports. I have always believed that politics and sports should not be mixed."
The UAE rejected Peer's visa request a day before she was to arrive for the $2 million Dubai Tennis Championships, which includes all the top-10 women's players.
Peer, 21, ranked 45th, had qualified and was already placed in the woman's draw. She was scheduled to play Monday against 15th-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze.
Organizers gave Peer no reason for the rejection, but it appeared to be due to anti-Israel sentiments in the Gulf state, particularly after last month's three-week war between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza.
"There are some very important principles at stake here," Scott said. "Sports and politics should not mix and the fundamental principles upon which the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour are founded include open and fair competition to all, regardless of nationality, creed, race, religion, etc.
"That's not just a principle that our Tour is founded upon but I think it is the underlying spirit of international sports in general and therefore I think the ramifications of what happened here ripple well beyond tennis."
"We will think deeply about this in making our decision on what our final response is," he said.
Scott said the WTA decided to continue with the tournament to avoid hurting the other players who are already in Dubai. That decision was taken in consultation with Peer, he said.
"She didn't want to see her fellow players harmed the same way she was being harmed," Scott told the AP.
He said UAE officials did not give an exact reason why the visa was refused, "but it can really only be related to her nationality and political and security-related issues."
The Tennis Channel has decided not to air the tournament this week. It it part of a 10-tournament deal the network has signed with the WTA.
“Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion," Ken Solomon, TTC Chairman and CEO said to the New York Times. "They are simply about talent. This is a classic case, not about what country did what to another country. If the state of Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision.”
“Tennis in many ways has been at the forefront of sport, with people breaking down barriers like Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King,” he said. “It’s harder for the Tennis Channel to turn the other cheek and not do the right thing.”
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