Daria Kasatkina insists she has been “given assurances” about the safety of gay players in Saudi Arabia with the WTA Finals due to be held in Riyadh this year.

Daria Kasatkina claims that she has been given guarantees about her safety if she competes in Saudi Arabia.

Kasatkina is one of the only openly gay players on the WTA Tour and is hopeful of qualifying for the WTA Finals in Riyadh in November.

Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, but Kasatkina has been assured she will face no problems.

“I’ve been given assurances that I’ll be fine,” the world number 11 told BBC Sport when asked if gay players should feel comfortable participating.

Kasatkina had previously expressed concern about the matter at Wimbledon last summer, saying “there were a lot of issues affecting the country”.

However, the Russian appears to have changed her mind while speaking after her victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Madrid Open.

“If I qualify, it means I’m in the top eight in the world; it’s great news for me,” he said.

‘We see that the Saudis are now very interested in sport, they want to develop it.

“And as long as it gives the opportunity for the people there, the little kids and the women to actually see the sport, so they can watch it and play it and participate in this, I think it’s great.” ‘

The president of the Saudi Tennis Federation, Arij Almutabagani, has made it clear that gay players will not have to act differently than they do in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where WTA tournaments are already held.

Kasatkina is currently competing in the Madrid Open, where she has reached the round of 16

‘People can behave however they want; There is nothing that says you can or can’t behave. You just have to understand that each country has its rules and traditions,” he stated.

‘It’s the same thing that happened in Dubai. How do they operate in Dubai? We are equal, we are all neighbors. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates: how would the players behave there?