Biggest names in tennis lash out at governing body ahead of WTA Finals

Kevin Palmer 29 Oct 2023 11:14 AM

Iga Swiatek of Poland and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus before their match

The WTA Finals are set to get underway in Cancun, but there are rumblings of discontent from the game’s leading stars ahead of the lucrative end-of-season finale.

A late decision to stage the event in Mexico sparked a rush for organisers to get a stadium built for an event that has a total prize money fund of $9milllion.

Images of the stands being constructed have appeared on social media in recent weeks, with the finishing touches still being added as the world’s leading female players arrived in Mexico.

Now world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No 2 Iga Swiatek have voiced their annoyance at the last-minute nature of the event, which meant they were limited in the time they were allowed to play on the match court in Cancun.

“I’m not happy that we couldn’t practice on the match court, meaning like in the stadium. I think this is not the level for the WTA Finals,” said Sabalenka.

“We literally have one hour today, like 45 minutes, to try the stadium. This is something I’m not happy with.

“I’m pretty sure the rest of the players are also not happy. At the same time, yes, I know we’re all in the same conditions. But this is not conditions for the WTA Finals.

“So it’s not great. I mean, usually we need like three to four days to kind of like adjust to conditions. But we’ll see. I guess it is how it is. But I hope that next year WTA will do better job.”

Here a little video posted the 16th October,7 days ago about WTA finals in Cancun.
We can see that the court has been painted but stands are not ready.
Hope it progress a lot since one week
But the fact we dont see it in official way means it's probably not finished#WTATENNIS pic.twitter.com/fsy8co1kDb

— Sebastien G. (@sebsharfam2) October 23, 2023

Swiatek was also frustrated by her lack of practice time on the court where she will aim to win one of the most prestigious prizes in women’s tennis.

“Today I had the chance to practice on the centre court for like 45 minutes for the first time,” said Swiatek.

“It’s a little bit different than the practice courts. I guess to perform well here, you just have to kind of not care of everything that is going on around, just really focus on playing the best tennis possible.”