Doha - Silhouettes instead of photographs, and computer
manipulation to conceal thighs: that is how Qatar promoted this
week's season-ending WTA Championship.
For years the WTA has appealed to sensuality to sell its stars,
but the first experience of a Masters tournament in the Middle East
left it with no alternative but to moderate its presentations.
The tournament that brings together the season's eight best female
tennis players arrived in Qatar shortly after the end of the Ramadan,
the month of religious observance in which Muslims fast and generally
abstain from worldly activities to meditate and get closer to God.
Qatar, which has experienced an opening to Western culture over
the past few years, understood that change cannot happen overnight.
So on the streets there is no sign of the WTA's classic advertising
posters, showing off the beauty of Serbia's Ana Ivanovic and company.
'Since it was the month of Ramadan, we met and we decided that it
was better to have silhouettes and not to show players' legs and
arms. We thought we had to adapt to the country and respect its
habits and religion,' Moroccan Karim Alami, the tournament director,
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Tournament organizers had previously sent photographs of the girls
wearing tennis clothes to the only advertising agency in Qatar, which
is state-owned, and they were rejected.
That is why the tournament seeks to promote itself through posters
that only reveal the players' purple silhouettes, with nothing that
could be found to have sexual connotations.
'This is their idea,' WTA boss Larry Scott told dpa of the
decision to run the campaign in this way.
The decision deprived the most visible angles of the Khalifa
Tennis Centre, in which the tournament is played, of the photos of
stars in mini skirts.
Some media went even further: just a few days ago, after the end
of Ramadan, both The Peninsula - an English-language newspaper - and
the Alarab - which is written in Arabic - changed media releases,
which do show the players in tennis clothes, and used a computer to
paint over them black leggings that concealed their thighs.
Around town, women wear wide black tunics to their ankles, which
also cover their heads. Some let their faces show, while a few just
let their eyes be seen and a minority appear completely covered.
'Those who cover themselves the most are most likely from Qatar
and are not young. Young women are more open,' said Hassan, a local
salesman.
The WTA believes it could contribute to Qatar's opening.
'I'm firmly convinced that bringing women to play here we're going
to help. We are going to bring an empowering message for young girls,
not just in Doha, in the region, that girls can have the same
opportunities as men,' a convinced Scott said.
He added that Qatar wants to show the world that it is
'progressive' by hosting such an important women's tournament.
Serbian world number one Jelena Jankovic was also eager to make a
contribution with her presence to the fate of women in the Middle
East.
'I hope we can be a good influence for the change, for the women
here,' she said.
Beyond good intentions, there is obviously business. The WTA is
busy with the expansion of its product. It needs to open borders and
enter new markets, a good enough reason to take the Masters to the
small peninsula on the Persian Gulf until 2010.
'Tennis is very strong in Europe. It's kind of our big support.
The Middle East, India are really the future,' said the boss of
women's tennis.
Doha rises in the horizon like a luxurious and futuristic oasis of
metal and mirrored glass. Piles of rubble, cranes, huge construction
sites and dust are everywhere - the future is coming, but it is not
quite there yet.
Just like the full liberalization of women.
USA
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