Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington on Tuesday said she was disappointed by recent criticism from tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova about Saudi money flowing into the sport.
The retired players, winners of 18 Grand Slam singles titles each, wrote an opinion column in The Washington Post last week saying the Women's Tennis Association should back away from talks about staging the WTA Finals in the Gulf kingdom.
They based their position on "the unequal status of women (which) remains deeply embedded in Saudi law" and other human rights concerns, including the criminalisation of LGBTQ people.
In a response posted on social media, Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador, said the article had "pained me deeply" and overlooked recent advances for women in Saudi Arabia.
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