Bepa's Winter Intersession Project

The WTA has apparently received "written assurance" that Shahar will receive a visa to play in Dubai.

Hopefully it'll come through.  Last year they had verbal promises out the wazoo, and in the end, nothing.  Hopefully if the UAE caves again (although that's hard to imagine, since they let Andy Ram in the next week), the WTA will stand firm and pull the tournament. Sports and development is a field with real potential, on both political and societal levels.  But as a players' association (although how well they're currently fulfilling that role is a whole different discussion) the WTA has to, at a basic level, ensure that all its "employees" can work at all its "sites".  If the UAE can't prove that it's willing to extend itself on a political level, the WTA has to stop paying lip-service to social development and walk away.  Some shit ain't worth the money, y'all.