Shahar Pe'er (שחר פאר) is a 21-year-old Israeli professional tennis player. Her career-best world ranking was 15, and she’s currently ranked 45. Earlier this week the United Arab Emirates denied her an entry visa to compete in the US$2M (A$3.06M) Dubai Tennis Championships. The top 10 ranked women are playing, and Pe'er’s ranking qualifies her to compete. The UAE gave no reason for its decision. Unsurprisingly, or perhaps surprisingly given the commercial reality, Pe'er’s colleagues are vehemently condemning the UAE’s decision. And Larry Scott, Chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association, the governing body of women’s professional tennis, was even more forthright, announcing: ‘The WTA Tour believes very strongly, and has a clear rule and policy, that no host country should deny a player the right to compete at a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking. The Tour is reviewing appropriate remedies for Ms Peer and also will review appropriate future actions with regard to the future of the Dubai tournament’. So racism in sport rears its ugly head again [1,2]. It’s detestable. It’s abhorrent. It’s unacceptable. It’s clear, and regrettable, that the UAE autocrats do not practise the tolerance that’s a basic principle of Islam. So let them be hit where it hurts – their prestige and their hip pocket. A 2010 WTA Tour programme sans the Dubai Championship would be good news indeed.
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Here's an update from the Age on Saturday 21 February. I think it paints a pretty true picture - which ain't pretty: http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/sport-and-politics-can-be-a-potent-mix/2009/02/20/1234633066922.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
And in Sunday 22 February's Age there's more. The picture's looking a bit rosier now.
And there's even more interesting developments in this article e.g. Andy Roddick not defending his Dubai men's singles title in protest about the Pe'er matter, and Pe'er receiving part of the fine, and having a say in which charity the remainder should go to. Also the WTA's Larry Scott called the Pe'er matter 'the most egregious action the world of tennis has seen in recent history'.
As per this article in the 3 May Jerusalem Post, this matter was raised at the late April AGM of tournament sponsor Barclays Bank whose CEO tiptoed sycophantically around the issue. How pathetic.
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