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Tennis Justice is Served for Shahar Peer
by Nadya Vlassoff
 The WTA’s Dubai Tennis Championship ended Sunday with a celebration for Venus Williams who claimed her 40th singles title over Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano. But the festivities were amid a lingering scandal that left Israeli Shahar Peer from even making it to the tournament. Before the start of the tournament, Peer, who had already qualified, was denied a visa that would have allowed her to play in the competition. With tensions between Israel and the Gaza Strip, organizers of the tournament said that they feared a security risk if Peer were to play. Despite the political standpoint, the WTA and players alike were outraged at the actions of the organizers.
The tournament went on and produced a winner but the repercussions marred the outcome. The WTA fined the organizers $300,000, the most ever for any sort of tournament infraction. Tour CEO Larry Scott told the Associated Press, “We wanted to send a clear signal that this is the most egregious action the world of tennis has seen in recent history. And we felt that it should be at least double what the previous highest penalty was.”
Like many sports, there is a very fine line when mixing politics with sporting events, especially on an international stage. As much as the Olympics and international sporting events like the World Cup do to incorporate unity and diversity into their dynamics, there will still be issues concerning political ties between nations depending on the shift in diplomatic relations. Venus Williams spoke about the situation surrounding Peer in her trophy presentation speech. Williams called Peer brave for attempting to play in a tournament where she knew she would face adversity. With the new sanctions put in by the WTA along with the hefty fine, it is a warning for future tournaments, namely their organizers, to be fully aware that the tour will not tolerate discrimination in any form. Earlier in the week, Dubai, a big money tournament, was in danger of being cut from the 2010 tour schedule because of the actions taken against Peer. Thankfully for Andy Ram, an ATP player, he was granted a visa for the tournament next week.
 In a show of defiance, Andy Roddick, who was set to play in next week’s ATP Dubai Tennis Championship, pulled out citing his disillusionment with the tournament and its organizers over the decision they made on Peer. This is a big blow to the tournament with Roddick being their defending champion while 4 other top 10 men on the ATP rankings have also pulled out. With Maria Sharapova pulling out of Dubai as well as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko, and Fernando Verdasco all on the sidelines with injuries, the Dubai Tennis Championship can hardly stand to gain any more negative press. The season ending championship in Qatar is still on track but it is difficult to say whether the Dubai decision will impact the Sony Ericsson championship in October.
For many players the focus lies ahead on the upcoming hard court tournaments in the United States. As for Peer, she was awarded the same number of ranking points from last year during the same week to assure her ranking doesn’t drop due to the unforeseen circumstances. She, along with doubles partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld were awarded a share of the $300,000 fine in order to cover the prize money they could have won in the tournament had they played.
It is a small victory for Peer who was singled out for the wrong reasons. For the WTA and the ATP they were able to step up and give proper if not the most stringent punishment they could have. Although Dubai remains on the schedule for 2010, any more infractions of the sort will likely change next year’s tournament schedule for sure.
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