Last Saturday, night was already falling in Spain, Madrid was about to take to the grass in Balaídos, with his white shirt and his Emirates on his chest, Rafa Nadal, national symbol of Spanish sport, received as a gift after his penultimate match, and thousands of kilometers away, a solid gold racket valued at 250,000 euros from the hands of Turki Al sheikh, Arab sheikh, born in Saudi Arabia, owner of Almería and advisor to the Royal Court of the Saudi kingdom, which would come to be a typical minister. From him was born that Six Kings Slam that has caught our eye, not even out of the corner of our eye, to see the last Djokovic-Nadal, a pachanga, if you’ll excuse me; and the most recent Sinner–Alcaraz, which theoretically should be the best tennis match of the moment. Although it wasn’t this time. Decaffeinated. Things about the lack of tension. No matter how many millions were distributed at the end of the duel: six for the winner, the Italian.
The best tennis players in the world have been the last to fall. Fresh money buys wills easily. Money from Arab countries, the Emirates or Qatar, governed with an iron fist and a continuous attack on human rights, the rights of women or groups at risk of exclusion, has already taken over our football: from the Premier to LaLiga, buying clubs, stamping their name on t-shirts or stadiums. In recent years, it has been Saudi money that has made its way through with a checkbook. It has conquered the padel circuit, it has opened a gap in the golf circuit and it has managed to attract one of its main stars like Jon Rahm; He has managed to associate himself with the almost pristine image (until then) of one of the best tennis players in history, like Nadal; It has been hosting the most impactful motor competition, the Dakar, for five editions, and it does not seem to want to stop because it has plenty of petrodollars to complete the biggest campaign in sportswashing of history.
In all these years there have been practically no dissenting voices. Just a handful of mountaineers, like those who urged the international climbing federation not to let itself be bought by the Saudis; hopefully, a footballer at the zenith of his career, like Toni Kroos, who preferred to retire from all of them rather than sell himself and put a price on his principles. The discordant voice that more than a hundred soccer players also raise today, all of them active, many international with their national teams, gives a little hope to those who continue to believe that sport is values. And that a country that punishes homosexuality and mistreats women has no argument to sponsor the soccer they play. This is what the players think, that is their demand, as legal as it is strange these days. Hopefully your requests are not an oasis in the desert, but a starting point. And a call for others to join.