Top players at this week’s WTA Finals have made it very clear that they aren’t happy with several elements at the season-ending championships. World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka said she felt “disrespected” by the level of organisation at the tournament. Four-time Major winner Iga Swiatek also commented on the lack of crowds in Cancun. While some believe that the players are doing the tournament a disservice by voicing their frustrations, they have every right to be using their voices if private conversations aren’t working.
The WTA has taken a lot of heat this week as the season-ending championships have gotten underway in Cancun. With the host city announced eight weeks before the tournament started, there was minimal time to prepare and the court construction was only completed on Saturday, the day before play got underway.
Earlier this week, the WTA provided a statement responding to the criticism over the court, saying they “worked hard” to construct the stadium. “The team has worked diligently on an expedited timeline amid weather challenges to ensure the stadium and court meet our strict performance standards,” it read.
Still, that hasn’t stopped some of the elite top eight from lashing out at the conditions. “I have to say though that I am very disappointed with the WTA and the experience so far at the WTA Finals. As I said in my press conference tonight, as a player I really feel disrespected by the WTA. I think most of us do. This is not the level of organisation we expect for the Finals,” Australian Open champion Sabalenka said at the start of the week.
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The world No 1 said she didn’t feel safe “moving on this court a lot of the time”, noting its late completion while WTA Finals debutant Marketa Vondrousova said the tournament was a “disappointment”. She added: “Stadium is not at all ready for the matches and to me it feels like the people from WTA are absolutely not interested in how we- who are supposed to play on that court feel. We do not feel that anyone listens to us and is interested in our opinion. Very sad.”
With a late decision on the host city for the WTA Finals, Swiatek spoke out about the turnaround at the event. “Obviously, they decided late that we were going to play here. It’s clear that marketing should be better. It’s a shame we don’t have a full stadium and we don’t really feel like we’re at the tennis party all week. But it’s like that,” the 16-time title winner said.
When it comes to seeing some empty seats in Cancun, some have argued that it could be the product of the players voicing their frustrations with the conditions of the tournament and it would be better if the likes of Sabalenka and co chose not to publicly air their grievances with the WTA. But the players have every right to speak out if they feel as though their tour has failed them.
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It’s not for elite athletes – quite literally the top players of the season – to worry about marketing the tournament and trying to boost ticket sales. Their job is to turn up and play. And based on what they’ve been saying, that job has been made difficult this week given that some of them feel unsafe on court and couldn’t practice properly until the day before.
It has also become clear that the players tried to voice their concerns about the Finals – among a series of other issues – privately with the WTA. The Athletic reported that Sabalenka was among 21 players who signed a letter to chief executive Steve Simon asking for a response by October 13. Instead, they were offered two meetings – one of which was so frustrating that two unnamed, top players reportedly walked out.
So why wouldn’t the players make their issues public if their attempts to resolve problems behind closed doors aren’t working? They shouldn’t have to grin and bear it during the tournament. Especially when a player like Vondrousova – who is still in contention for a semi-final spot – sounds excited to leave her first WTA Finals.
“I’m glad that I’m waiting for the last match and we’re going away,” she told Radiozurnal Sport. The elite eight in Cancun do not need to – as Daniil Medvedev said in French 5,000 miles away at the Paris Masters – shut their mouths at the risk of making a tournament sound less appealing.
At least they now appear to have the response they desired in a letter from Steve Simon, which was shared by Sports Illustrated. In it, the WTA chief executive writes: “It is not a perfect event, we understand the conditions are a challenge and the WTA will of course accept responsibility for that”. It’s just a shame that the players have still had to turn up and feel like this. And it’s an even bigger shame to tell them they can’t make their feelings public.
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