{"id":277712,"date":"2025-11-11T13:28:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277712\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T13:28:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:28:28","slug":"wta-legends-leave-lasting-impression-at-year-end-finals-in-riyadh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277712\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA legends leave lasting impression at year-end Finals in Riyadh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The second edition of the WTA Finals Riyadh saw WTA legends play a vital role off-court, as some of the game\u2019s most beloved names returned to take part in impactful panel discussions, coaching clinics and fan engagement activities.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the highlights.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia meets students at the ECAF French school<\/p>\n<p>Recently retired Caroline Garcia, who won the WTA Finals in Fort Worth in 2022, made a special appearance at the ECAF French school, meeting students and participating in a Q&amp;A session on stage.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Garcia_School-Visit_Getty.jpg\" alt=\"1_caroline Garcia_School Visit_Getty\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Getty Images\n                        <\/p>\n<p>The WTA Foundation&#8217;s Special Olympics clinic<\/p>\n<p>Vania King, Alicia Molik, Jessica Pegula, Gabriela Dabrowski, Erin Routliffe, Iga Swiatek and Garcia joined Judy Murray to help stage the Special Olympics clinic on behalf of the WTA Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2_Vania-King_Alicia_Molik_Judy-Murray_Special-Olympics.jpg\" alt=\"2_Vania King_Alicia_Molik_Judy Murray_Special Olympics\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Getty Images\n                        <\/p>\n<p>A meet and greet with Kerber<\/p>\n<p>Former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber, runner-up to Dominika Cibulkova at the WTA Finals Singapore in 2016, was part of an extensive program of fan engagement at the King Saud University Indoor Arena.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/3_Angelique-Kerber_Fan-Engagement.jpg\" alt=\"3_Angelique Kerber_Fan Engagement\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Katelyn Mulcahy\/Getty Images for WTA\n                        <\/p>\n<p>Bartoli, Jabeur champion women&#8217;s health<\/p>\n<p>Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli participated in the second WTA Foundation Champions for Women\u2019s Health Summit, alongside Tunisian icon Ons Jabeur and leading figures from the local Saudi community.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4_Marion-Bartoli_Ons-Jabeur_Womens-Health-Summit_Getty.jpg\" alt=\"4_Marion Bartoli_Ons Jabeur_Womens Health Summit_Getty\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Jimmie48\/WTA\n                        <\/p>\n<p>The first WTA Coaches Conference in Riyadh<\/p>\n<p>Former World No. 7 and USTA head of women\u2019s tennis Kathy Rinaldi took part in the first WTA Coaches Conference to be staged in Riyadh, which included the launch of the first Middle East Coach Inclusion initiative. Participants included Omani WTA standout Fatma Al-Nabhani and Jabeur&#8217;s coach, Issam Jellali. Jellali is a program administrator with Rinaldi.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/5_Kathy-Rinaldi-Coach-Inclusion-Program_Getty.jpg\" alt=\"5_Kathy Rinaldi Coach Inclusion Program_Getty\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Getty Images\n                        <\/p>\n<p>Muguruza, Halep share trophy moment with Sabalenka<\/p>\n<p>WTA Finals Riyadh tournament director Garbi\u00f1e Muguruza and fellow former No. 1 Simona Halep presented year-end No.1 Aryna Sabalenka with the Chris Evert WTA World No. 1 Trophy.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/6_Muguruza_Sabalenka-No1-Trophy_Halep.jpg\" alt=\"6_Muguruza_Sabalenka No1 Trophy_Halep\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Photo by Clicks Images\/Getty Images\n                        <\/p>\n<p>Hlavackova celebrates Siniakova&#8217;s historic feat<\/p>\n<p>Andrea Sestini Hlavackova, the 2017 WTA Finals doubles champion and a former doubles World No. 3, joined Muguruza to present Katerina Siniakova with her year-end No. 1 trophy. It marked the fifth time the Czech has ended the season at the top, a WTA record shared with Martina Navratilova.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7_Andrea-Sestini-Hlavackova_Siniakova-No1-Trophy_Muguruza.jpg\" alt=\"7_Andrea Sestini Hlavackova_Siniakova No1 Trophy_Muguruza\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Photo by Robert Prange\/Getty Images\n                        <\/p>\n<p>ACEing Cancer<\/p>\n<p>With funds raised for every ace served during the tournament, the WTA Foundation&#8217;s ACEing Cancer presented by Hologic campaign generated $200,000 in support of women\u2019s cancer research, prevention and treatment. WTA Foundation board member Daniela Hantuchova was on hand for the presentation of a symbolic jumbo check.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image  object-fit-cover-picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/8_Daniela-Hantuchova_ACEing-Cancer-cheque.jpg\" alt=\"8_Daniela Hantuchova_ACEing Cancer cheque\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"embeddable-photo__photo-credit b-m-m\">\n<p>                             Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images for WTA\n                        <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The second edition of the WTA Finals Riyadh saw WTA legends play a vital role off-court, as some&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-277712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}