We hear all the time about soccer hooligans beating up those of other races or nationalities just because they root for another team. Well, it looks like tennis is quickly catching up to the world's sport in terms of intolerance. First, you had Bosnian and Serbian fans fighting after a tennis match at the Aussie Open. And now, we have the case of the WTA Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. The UAE government and has refused to give Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer (ranked 45 in the world according to WTA) a visa, thereby denying her ability to compete in an event for which she qualified. This is wrong on so many levels, and now the tournament is feeling the backlash.
According to WTA rules, Dubai could lose its rights to holding competitions. For a more immediate punishment, the main sponsor of the tournament, The Wall St. Journal, has pulled their sponsorship from the event. Furthermore, the Tennis Channel has said they will not broadcast the event at all. JFLANland applauds both the Wall St. Journal and the Tennis Channel for their actions in response to this outrage. It is appalling that, in the 21st Century, we still have such discriminatory practices. Things in the Middle East are bad enough, why must we bring politics into the sporting arenas. Ms. Peer should be able to compete on any country, regardless of religion, country of origin or ethnic background. Hopefully the WTA will come down as hard as possible on the UAE for their actions, and can use this unfortunate event to help curtail xenophobia before someone gets hurt.
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