Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have ripped into the WTA for the poor facilities and management of the WTA Finals in Cancun. The WTA Finals got off to a rocky start with the center court not being ready for practice until the start of the tourney.
The top seeds Sabalenka and Swiatek have led the backlash against the organizers as the tournament has just kicked off. Cancun was confirmed as the host of the showpiece WTA Finals event back in September with Mexico hosting the women’s year-end finals for the second time in last three seasons.
Sabalenka had already expressed her disapproval of the arrangements after reposting her coaches Instagram story that voiced the shortage of practice courts (only two) and having only one stringer at the site. The WTA #1 has doubled down on the concerns while talking to press, “I’m not happy that we couldn’t practice on the matchcourt, meaning like on the stadium.”
She continued, “I think this is not the level for the WTA Finals. We literally have one hour today [Saturday], 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.”
2022 Wimbledon Elena Rybakina and 2023 Indian Wells Champion was also among the leading voices that hit out on WTA for the last minute preparation of the event.
“It surprised me that we didn’t get a chance yet to practice. I think that’s the only day now. I’m going to get the first hit in the evening,” said the Kazakhstani. “Tomorrow I have to play the match, so this is a bit disappointing.
“But it is what it is. I guess we’re going to try to do our best to show good tennis, which is not going to be that easy with such windy conditions. But overall, I mean, Mexico is really nice. Yeah, I think we just try to do our best here.”
World No. 6 and WTA Finals debutant Czech Marketa Vondrousova posted a meme that jokingly explained players having to build the arena themselves in an Instagram post.
WTA #7, two time Wimbledon runner-up, Ons Jabeur famously touted as ‘Tunisian Minister of Happiness’ also let out the disappointment about the situation and despite praising the construction workers said that this should “never happen again.”
“I mean, obviously as a player, I wish the stadium was ready couple of days before in order to have a better preparation and everything,” said the two-time Wimbledon finalist. “I don’t want to take the effort that the construction team had done for the past six weeks, I guess. I know they done a lot of hard work. I want to thank them for that.
“I’m not very happy that this is the first day we hit on the stadium. This is such a big event. We should have been able to be ready and hit on the court. Hopefully this will never, ever, ever happen again. Like ever.”
Four time major champion and world No. 2, Iga Swiatek voiced the same sentiments as her peers and rivals as she wanted to win her first Finals crown despite all odds and get back the #1 ranking from Sabalenka to finish the season as WTA #1.
“Today I had the chance to practice on the centre court for like 45 minutes for the first time. It’s a little bit different than the practice courts,” explained the Pole. “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.”
The WTA Finals in Cancun will kick off later today with Sabalenka going head-to-head with Greek Maria Sakkari and Elena Rybakina facing Toronto Masters champion Jessica Pegula.