The Manero Callout

The spaceship has landed destination arrived Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with the arrival of the WTA, the Women’s Tennis Tour finals with the eight billboarded top women’s tennis players (current) aiming for the winning cheque, the staggering figure of 37 million pounds to the winner, a grotesque state of affairs. The season ending WTA event, the first top level Women’s tournament to land in the kingdom, to say that the kingdom held court with the women’s tennis fraternity is part of the sports washing. The fact that the kingdom is numbered at 126^th out of 146^th on the global gender gap, to mark the measure on women’s equality in the desert sands. The HRW (Human Rights Watch) outlined their concerns prior to the tournament, but no response from the WTA. Two of the sport’s biggest icons, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert joined forces to quote into the public domain “The values of Saudi Arabia are entirely incompatible with the spirit and purpose of women’s tennis”.

The WTA’s founder, 11 time Grand Slam winner Billie Jean King has gone all queerish, you cannot operate that in Saudi hitting the bizarro notes, BJK seems to have taken a detour from her former self, from being an advocate of gender equality and social justice to on inception the Billie Jean Cup to be housed in Saudi 2025, formally known as the Federation Cup. A green haze shines bright in the distance, money creed. According to Billie Jean the money, and there’s plenty is to help the players and to co-ordinate the WTA tour, the BJK subterfuge, all the trickery bluff the normal detour statement to find a way to hide their hypocrisy. Further nonsense from King came, quote “The tournament is to enhance women’s rights in Saudi”, how? A one week jamboree and we can call it a gathering of creed. A one week tournament and off into the sunset they go, the great tennis money heist, a second glance over your shoulder Billie? You jetsetters. John McEnroe says he is baffled with King’s involvement particularly with the BJ stance on the LGBTQ rights which are outlawed in the kingdom to be gallowed out, a few stones thrown in, the brutality. If you cut through the waffle John, the baffling will disappear signposted Wells Fargo, it is good to engage with the bank Billie, according to Billie Jean it’s good to engage with the Saudis, but would BJ engage without the summer fruits on offer, the greens?

Billie Jean Was the One

Billie Jean was more than
a standard bearer from the tennis
scene, you are the one or was
the one, her name was Billie
Jean, she was the one, be
careful of who you love, but
not anymore, it’s all been a lie,
whatever happened to Billie Jean?

The ‘Land is Calling’

Perhaps Billie can jump on the Saudi Arabia tourism billboard ‘The Land is Calling’ an intrepid western woman treks across the desert and weaves through a bustling city, and finally comes face to face with a local woman. They exchange a gentle smile, all bollocks, scripted. The sanctimonious Billie Jean, quote “It will create more opportunities for women to follow, to help grow an emerging tennis market.”, follow that long line of drivel. The false virtue signalling the stadium build for the tennis tournaments with the ATP (the men’s tour) coming down the Manero pipe into the depths of the article would have been umbrellaed under the KAFALA system, a legal framework that creates masses of cheap labour, this has to be framed as exploitation, deeply shocking link to article June 29^th 2022 ‘A Hard Hit Long, The Road to Qatar’.

The record busting 37 million pound cheque winged it’s way to the tournament’s acclaimed champion Coco Gauff on the wings of the rights and wrongs downloaded, it is to be doubted if the draped ones, the women’s support would have been seated in large numbers? Gauff stated that she had her doubts about attending, but attend she did, it highlights the human rights record in part. Hotel workers serving the rank and file of the tennis world would be part of the cheap labour system “Here’s your kabsa (rice, meat) Miss Gauff, poached egg to follow, presented to you under the coded violations”. The short, sweet smell of autumn in the kingdom welcomed three weeks prior the six kings event with the courtship of 6 world men’s top players opening its ATP doors to the kingdom.

Surprisingly Rafa Nadhal was carded on the top 6 but without much calendar tournament play for over a year and more, and even more surprisingly or perhaps not Nadal turned up for the event looking to straddle some serious cash, so fitness regained then. Was this the reason for Rafa not pulling the plug on one’s career in view of the 6 Kings event for a slice of the rich pickings? It would be a strong breath of fresh air if a stance was taken, but not one player has come out from their closeted vacuum to state the human rights issues to squash their participators. For all their goody do shots, smile please for the media and the tennis public following their every move, you know the type, the nice guy syndrome has all proved to be a drain of slush looking to wash away the drained letters, hypocrites into the well of rats. They have ratted on themselves and breached on their make believe moral boundaries and beyond into the faceless desert, there is no reflection, that lies within. The big elephant in the room reared its trunk call, down the pipe came a portentous cheque to the event’s winner Jannick Sinner, 46 million pounds was the cash cow, ride that elephant. The cash on offer to become the devil incarnate routed to boxing, golf, football, formula one, more sports to follow and now tennis, but this is how society is today, a stink bomb to linger deep into the night, the sound of the barking dogs and the cursed can be heard, a betrayal to the sporting ethics, it can be ugly in part, as for the elephant in the room, its time to make that trunk call for more cash on offer, sportswashing.