WTA boss Portia Archer: Growth of women's tennis can be 'transformational' in Mena region

WTA's CEO tells The National that Saudi Arabia's ambitious plans align with the vision of the governing body

Coco Gauff with the Billie Jean King Trophy after her victory at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh. Getty Images

When Portia Archer joined the WTA as its new CEO last August, the American was already familiar with the unique structure of tennis and the challenges that come with it.

With seven different governing bodies – WTA, ATP, ITF and the four grand slams – involved in the sport, and the tours run as a partnership between players and tournaments, making changes in tennis can be tricky.

But it’s something Archer is excited to tackle after making the move from the NBA, where she was the chief operating officer of its development league.

Archer teaches a sports management class at Columbia University about the structure of sports leagues, and her early understanding of how tennis is governed came through her preparation for that course.

“That’s when I thought, wow, this is quite complicated. This is different, but also quite complicated than some of the other sports that I'm more familiar with and accustomed to,” Archer told The National in an interview at the end of last season.

“I did more research in preparation for my role as CEO, I don't think I'm surprised by it, but it's interesting to see it in action and to see all of the different areas that it affects.

“For example, tennis is one of the only sports that I am familiar with where we don't have a standard for balls. So that's really interesting. If you go to the NBA, it's the same ball. It may change a little bit if you play outside of the US, the Olympic ball might look a little different. If you're playing FIBA basketball, it might look a little different. But that's interesting to me.

“And so the governance of these seven different organisations that look after tennis has an impact on things like that. And intellectually, I understood that, but being here in it and really trying to impact the product through these things like standards and rules, the mechanics that are behind all of that, it's been interesting to see how the structural components of tennis impact it.”

The WTA has been the leader in women’s sport since it was founded in 1973 and the tour is coming off a record 2024 season that offered an unprecedented total prize money of $221 million to the players – $42 million more than what was on the table in 2023.

According to the tour, total attendance for WTA tournaments increased by 15 per cent in 2024, while a recent analysis by Forbes stated that 11 of the world’s 20 highest-earning female athletes are WTA players.

WTA must be 'best in class'

Upon joining the tour eight months ago, Archer’s vision for strategy was split into two parts. One is an “inward look” at the WTA and its organisational structure and the other is an “external-facing view”, which is essentially the product for the fans to consume.

Speaking of the inner workings of the tour, Archer said: “My vision is to really make sure that we're operating in a best-in-class way, with the highest standards of professionalism, and accountability to that standard.

“I think we've got some great leaders, we've got great experience, we've got passionate and committed staff, and we want to make sure that where we have gaps in skills and capabilities, that we fill those gaps.

“We also want to make sure that we're the MVP of whatever we're doing in our roles. I'm challenging us to ask ourselves, in whatever department we're in, what are we the MVP at? And if we're not at that level of MVP, how are we going to get there?”

When it comes to the external-facing view, Archer believes a key element is making sure fans are getting the best possible player fields at each tournament.

“It’s about really making sure that our, I'm going to call it product, for want of a better word, the product is supported, that we help create the very best platform to highlight women's tennis, to elevate our players,” she explained.

“And some of that means taking a look at what are our rules? How are we enacting them? Are they adequate? Should they be modernised, or changed, or adjusted?

“Some of that is taking a look at even this new structure that we put in place, the new circuit structure, figuring out what's working well, where we might want to tweak it to make some progress toward it, because we really do want the product that we, the fans see, to be the best that it can be.

“And so part of that means making sure that the top players in the world are playing at those tournaments. And part of the way we do that is through this thing that we call the circuit structure, but my role is to make sure that the fan-facing elements of our product are the very best that they can be as well.

“And so there's mechanics behind that, there are things behind that, like rules and the circuit structure, that's where I'm going to spend a lot of my time.”

Broadcast deal in Mena region still an issue

Last year, the tour increased the number of mandatory tournaments players must compete in, which was met by a mixed reaction from players. World No 2 Iga Swiatek has criticised that change on multiple occasions but said during the WTA Finals last November that the current tour management “are listening to us much more. I've seen some progress in terms of the communication".

Archer assures she is “open to change” and will continue listening to the players but that any adjustments moving forward must be “fact-based and informed decisions”.

The WTA’s presence in the Middle East and North Africa has never been stronger, with six tour-level tournaments currently being staged in the region (Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, Rabat, Monastir and Riyadh).

Two Arab women are ranked in the WTA top 100 – Tunisian Ons Jabeur and Egyptian Mayar Sherif – and interest in women’s tennis from fans in the Mena region is arguably at an all-time high.

Yet, that hasn’t coincided with investment from regional broadcasters into the WTA product, with no deal in place to air WTA matches in the Mena region since the agreement with beIN Sports concluded at the end of 2021.

According to sportsbusiness.com, Dazn, which is part of the joint venture called WTA Media, attempted to sell the broadcast rights for the Mena region for the 2024-2026 cycle, attaching it to the fact the WTA Finals are being held in Saudi Arabia throughout that period.

When such endeavours failed, Dazn stepped in and is now offering registered users on its platform the opportunity to watch WTA matches free of charge since last September.

Asked how the WTA tour can find a way to attract a Mena pan-regional rights deal, Archer said: “I don't have a good answer. I think a lot of it is sort of locked in the traditional underinvestment that is made in women's sports. I don't think it's something that even the WTA can escape.

“I think what we're trying to do is make the case for the value of women's tennis to rights holders in this region and in others. We're trying to help make the business case and the investment case for the listener, for the would-be buyer. And it's just a matter of are they listening? Are they hearing us? And are they willing to invest accordingly?

“But it's something we're working on. We have a whole new division of the WTA, our Ventures Division. They are singularly focused on how to commercialise the rights.

“We've just historically had a situation where rights to women's sports have been underinvested in for a very, very long time. And it's really hard to come out of that lull to the place where we need to get to and beyond.”

Saudi ambition strikes a chord

While broadcasters in the region are holding back when it comes to women’s tennis, both the public and private sectors in countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, and Morocco have shown great commitment to the WTA, through the tournaments they are hosting.

The WTA Finals – the crown jewel of the tour – began a three-year stint in Riyadh last November and it awarded 2024 champion Coco Gauff $4.8 million, the highest-ever individual prize pot in the history of women’s sport.

Some have questioned the tour’s decision to go to Saudi Arabia but Archer believes the partnership with the Saudi Tennis Federation and the Saudi Ministry of Sport makes perfect sense.

“The WTA has been a pioneer in many ways. When Billie Jean (King), and we're fortunate that we still have our founder around to ask these kinds of things, but when she started the precursor to what is now called the WTA with that $1 bill and eight other women, that was in 1970. That was actually before women in the United States had full rights under the law. But they did it,” said Archer.

“They did it not because everything was perfect, but because they wanted to enact change. They wanted to be inclusive. They wanted to fight for equity and equality for women in tennis. And so the view was not measuring on what was current or in the rearview mirror. It was really all about progress and what the case is moving forward and what we believe in.

“Later, she founded the WTA, and it was very much about providing that equity, equality, and inclusiveness for women. I think in keeping with that, that's exactly what the WTA is doing in Saudi Arabia, being there for the first time and committed to being there over the next two years, providing this country and hopefully this region an opportunity to get access to tennis, to build the workforce, to help improve women's health, to engage youth.

“Those are all the things that we set out to do in coming here and supporting the Saudi Tennis Federation in their aim to get a million people into tennis by or before 2030. And we can help them do that.

“That's really transformational and that very much fits into the goals of the WTA from its founding to now.”

Archer says what made Saudi Arabia’s proposal stand out compared to other bids for hosting the WTA Finals was the extent of the kingdom’s ambition along with the strong women she came in contact with at the STF and the Ministry of Sport.

“The ambition that they have was authentic. And I think what they had on offer and the ambition backed and supported and led by those women was very different from sort of what we were seeing in other places,” she added.

“I think the other thing, and I don't want to minimise it, the investment that they were willing to make to equalise the prize money for women to that of men with the ATP was also very important.”

Archer is expected to be in the UAE capital this weekend, where she will attend the finals of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open at Zayed Sports City on Saturday.