Cameron Norrie responds to criticism for accepting to play in Saudi Arabia

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Cameron Norrie underlined that his job is to play tennis and that he is going to Saudi Arabia solely for tennis reasons. After Norrie was introduced as a participant in this year’s Diriyah Tennis Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that wasn’t really welcomed by some in Great Britain.

Some of the biggest names of the game will be preparing at the Diriyah Tennis Cup between December 08-10. Besides Norrie, the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, Gael Monfils and Andrey Rublev are also expected to play in Saudi Arabia.

“I’m not a politician and I don’t feel it’s right for me to get involved with individual government politics. My job is to be a professional tennis player and this event allows me to train with some of the best players in the world and to potentially win the Australian Open,” Norrie said, per James Gray.

Norrie called out after signing up to play in Saudi Arabia

“We’ll never tell people like Cameron Norrie where they should or shouldn’t play tennis. But by appearing in Diriyah, Cameron should realize he’s effectively being deliberately hired in to take part in the latest jamboree of Saudi sportswashing.

Everyone playing in Diriyah will surely realize that this tennis tournament is yet another example of Saudi Arabia trying to sportswash its bloody human rights record,” Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s Head of Priority Campaigns, said.

The Diriyah Tennis Cup held its inaugural edition in 2019. In the last two years, the Diriyah Tennis Cup didn’t take place because of the pandemic. Now, the Diriyah Tennis Cup organizers are hoping for a great 2022 edition.

“As the host of international tennis stars, the Kingdom continues to show its excellence in hosting international sports events, which has made it home to various sports, including this event – ​​in which international stars will participate – that we are happy to organise.

The 2019 Diriyah Tennis Cup achieved great success which attracted thousands of fans from the Kingdom and abroad, and in this edition, we look forward to continuing these accomplishments and watching great competitive games in historic Diriyah, in the presence of fans of tennis, a sport that is highly popular in the Kingdom,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, sports minister and chair of the Diriyah Season Committee said.

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