14 January 2024 , 13:51
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Saudi Arabia want to host next year's Billie Jean King Cup and have opened negotiations to stage the finals as they eye up another major sporting tournament.
This isn't the first tennis event the Middle Eastern national have tried to host. The Saudi government were turned down in their bid for the WTA finals last year, as Mexican city Cancun ended up coming out on top.
This year's Billie Jean King Cup will be held in Seville, Spain, but the host for 2025 competition has yet to be decided. According to the Daily Mail, Saudi Arabia are keen to stage the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, despite King's status as a gay icon and her fight for gender and sexual equality.
King, 80, was the first prominent, professional female athlete to publicly acknowledge her LGBTQ+ identity in 1981 and she is often best remembered for her victory over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes". During her 22-year career, King won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, including becoming a five-time Wimbledon champion.
Since retiring, King has fought for LGBTQ+ rights and equality in women's tennis and speaking ahead of the US Open back in August, she reflected on how the landscape of the sport has changed.
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King told Good Morning America: "We're now at a tipping point where people are investing in us and believing in us because they think we're going to make money. We have to keep working harder and harder because we have a long way to go."
Billie Jean King (Getty Images)"I remember just believing in myself enough to win and [knowing] that this was more about social change and everybody else in the world, not just about me - I usually do better when it's bigger than myself," King added. "I remember thinking that if I could just win, maybe this will help things get better for everybody and more about equality for everyone."
Michelle Obama praised King for her work in women's tennis at the time. "Billie Jean teaches us that when things lie in the balance, we all have a choice to make. We can either wait around and accept what we're given, we can sit silently and hope that someone else fights our battles, or we can make our own stand," Obama said.
Canada won last year's Billie Jean King Cup, having beaten Italy in the final.