The WTA is currently facing criticism once again, and this time it is well-deserved considering the series of disasters that have occurred. One particular incident that highlights the poor organizational level of the women’s Tour is the recent WTA Finals in Cancun.
The most recent accusation regarding the chaotic schedule that has become a common feature of WTA events came from Michal Hrdlicka, who happens to be the husband of Karolina Pliskova. Hrdlicka criticized the WTA tour schedule after his wife Karolina had to endure a non-stop intercontinental trip and only managed to get to her first Qatar Open match with a mere 4 hours of sleep. This was immediately after the final she played at the Winners Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on Sunday.
Despite winning her 17th career title, which was her first in four years, the former No.1 had to face a race against time to make it to the Qatar Open on Monday, February 12, 2024. Karolina had to take a last-minute flight from Cluj via Istanbul to Doha. If the final in Romania had gone on for a little longer, she would not have been able to make it to Qatar at all. She arrived at the hotel at 8 in the morning, only had 4 hours of sleep, a quick lunch, and then had to play her match. It was an extremely challenging situation for her.
Karolina Pliskova also took to Instagram to express her ironic criticism of the schedule.
Daria Kasatkina also expressed strong criticism towards the WTA. The Russian tennis player wanted to voice her disagreement with the Tour schedule. After the semi-final match against Brazilian tennis player Haddad Maia, Kasatkina explained how her successful participation in the Abu Dhabi tournament would prevent her from competing in the WTA 1000 in Doha.
Kasatkina competed in the final of the Abu Dhabi tournament at 5pm local time, while her first round match in the Doha tournament was scheduled for the following Monday.
“It’s an awful program, truly. I don’t understand how you can schedule a tournament final on Sunday if you want the next week’s tournament to end on Saturday. So, the event starts on Sunday itself and if you are a player like me, who doesn’t have a bye in the first round, you have to play on Monday.
To my knowledge, we don’t have technology that allows me to teleport to Doha in an instant! I might have to travel on Monday and compete in a completely different tournament on the same day, after playing five matches at the highest level here.
I apologize, but this is an issue that needs to be addressed. I have a question, I’m not sure if it’s directed at the WTA or the tournaments: are you trying to constantly make us players fail or get injured? We are human beings, athletes striving to do our best work.
Under these circumstances, it’s simply not possible. I hope this matter reaches the right individuals and gets resolved. I’m not complaining, I’m stating the facts, and what is evident is that it is impossible for us to continue like this,” she explained.
At the beginning of 2024, Kasatkina herself commented on the WTA: “I wouldn’t separate the WTA from TennisTV. It used to be different, but now WTA TV is one of the worst platforms: you can’t even find it through a web search. Tennis TV is more visually appealing, they promote tennis very effectively. The potential is immense.
It seems like they don’t intentionally promote women’s tennis, and that’s extremely disappointing. If you look at the WTA’s TikTok profile, it was created in 2020 during COVID-19 and the latest video was posted at that time. After all, the WTA has the platform and the fans; they just need to make this system work. What’s wrong with them? Honestly, I can’t answer that question.”
As I mentioned earlier, the WTA Finals in Cancun exposed all the organizational issues that the WTA is facing. What occurred in the previous edition of the WTA Finals seems to have had a lasting impact. Numerous tennis players have criticized the Women’s Tennis Association for the way it arranged the event that brings together the top eight players of the season.
The WTA announced the location of the Finals at the last minute without allowing the tennis players to properly test the playing surfaces and with adequate timing. The unfavorable weather conditions further worsened the situation.
According to the Source tennisworldusa.org