"Some dresses, the shoulders were showing" - Madison Keys reveals real reason behind Saudi Arabia pushing WTA Finals photoshoot to closed locations

Madison Keys has revealed that the dress restrictions were the reason behind officials' decision to hold the WTA 2025 Finals photoshoot at a closed location in Saudi Arabia. The American tennis player lost her opening two matches before withdrawing due to an illness in the season-ending WTA event that took place in Riyadh last week.

The traditional pre-tournament photoshoot took place at the Bab AlSaad Resort in Diriyah on October 31. Fans were furious at the WTA officials for the choice of dresses, and also claimed that the players looked "sad" in the photoshoot.

Speaking to Desirae Krawczyk, Jessica Pegula, and Jennifer Brady on the Player's Box Podcast on November 11, Madison Keys said that she had seen fans' comments online and clarified why players did not pose with a smile during the photoshoot.

The World No. 7 revealed that the organizers had to consider a closed location for the photoshoot to respect the local culture and code regarding women's dresses in public places.

"We didn't do a smile picture," Madison Keys said. "I heard that they were trying to find like a closed location obviously because some of the dresses it was like the shoulders were showing or like there was a cutout or something. "I heard that they were kind of running into an issue last year where if shoulders were out or there was a cutout or something and you guys took your pictures in a more like public place, it was like you kind of had to be like shielded away a little bit." (9:00 onwards)

Keys, however, added that she understood the WTA's decision to consider a local culture before choosing a closed location for the photoshoot.

"I think that was kind of I think that is a tough thing to balance, where it's like I don't know if they could have found that many dresses that were like culturally dress code approved to be taken in like cultural locations. So I will say I understand it on that, and I did see a lot of those comments. So, I understand that part," Keys added. (10:07 onwards)

Meanwhile, the sixth-seed Elena Rybakina clinched the WTA Finals 2025, beating the World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final on Saturday, November 8. With two defeats in the group stages in Riyadh, Madison Keys finished the 2025 season as the World No. 7 in the WTA year-end singles rankings.

Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula react to Elena Rybakina's WTA Finals 2025 triumph

In the same episode of the Player's Box Podcast, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula shared their thoughts on Elena Rybakina's title win at the WTA Finals 2025. The Russian-born Kazakhstani had a brilliant end to the season, winning the Ningbo Open weeks before her heroics in the season-ending event.

After beating Key's alternative, Ekaterina Alexandrova, in the last group stage match, Rybakina defeated Pegula in the semifinals and then stunned Sabalenka in the summit clash in straight sets. Pegula highlighted that Rybakina's impressive service against Sabalenka in the final, and Keys highlighted the former World No. 3's form.

"Someone ended their year very well. Rybakina won. She beat Aryna 6-3, 7-6 (0) in the (WTA) Finals," Pegula said. "She hit 13 aces and won 67 percent of her first serves. She was serving like a joke." (16:00) "She had an insane couple of weeks," Madison Keys said. "She won Ningbo, she semied Tokyo, and then just won the year-end."

Elena Rybakina bagged a winner's prize money of $5.2 million, and Madison Keys walked away with $340,00 as a participation fee at the WTA Finals 2025.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam