Tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert say hosting the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia would be a “step backward” for women’s tennis.

The WTA came close to staging the 2023 Finals in Saudi, before going to Cancun in Mexico.

However, the WTA is still considering moving the season-ending event to Riyadh for future tournaments.

Navratilova and Evert said this would “represent not progress, but significant regression” for the sport.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, the pair – who dominated women’s tennis during the 1970s and ’80s – described the WTA Finals as the “crown jewel” of the women’s tour.

They criticised the WTA Board for not consulting players about the potential move and asked the governing body to start an “open, honest discussion” to question “whether ‘progress’ and ‘engagement’ is really possible” in the Gulf state.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of using events to ‘sportswash’ its reputation.

The state’s reputation for human rights violations and oppressing women has come under intense international scrutiny and boxing, Formula 1 and golf have all been criticised for holding events in the country in recent years.

“Taking a tournament there would represent a significant step backward, to the detriment not just of women’s sport, but women,” Navratilova and Evert said.

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur – an icon in the Arab world, and the runner-up at Wimbledon for each of the past two years – said in August she would be “very excited” if the WTA Finals were to be held in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia took its first step into professional tennis in December when it hosted the Next Gen ATP Finals – the season-ending tournament for men under 21.