“My first WTA Finals is not at all what I imagined” – Vondrousova joins chorus of criticism over Cancun conditions
The Wimbledon champion has been left dismayed by the conditions at the WTA Finals in Cancun, and is frustrated at yet another sub-par delivery from the WTA after a season of controversies
Marketa Vondrousova in a US Open 2023 press conference Zuma / Panoramic
Playing at a first-ever WTA Finals should be one of the defining memories of a player’s career. Sadly, for Marketa Vondrousova, the experience this week in Cancun is proving to be anything but.
The season-ending finale is intended to showcase and celebrate the eight finest singles and doubles players in the world over the past twelve months. Qualifying is an immense achievement, and participating should be an honour.
Yet, exactly one year on from the debacle surrounding the organisation of the WTA Finals in Fort Worth – at which crowd numbers remained dismally low throughout – the WTA’s best players (and finest assets) find themselves once again at the centre of an equally shambolic arrangement.
Players let down by WTA’s organisation of the Finals
“My first WTA Finals is not at all what I imagined,” wrote Vondrousova on social media after her opening-match loss to Iga Swiatek, bluntly pouring cold water on some of the happier images that had emerged in the build-up to the event.
“We work hard all year to get to the finals and in the end it’s just a disappointment.
“[The] 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 opinions. Very sad.”
This is the Wimbledon champion speaking. A player who only this July was awarded lifetime membership to the All England Club courtesy of her triumph at SW19, and who qualified for the season-ending Finals as a result.
Vondrousova is not the only one. This year’s 2023 Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur also let her frustrations be known prior to the tournament.
“I’m not very happy that this is the first day we hit on the stadium,” Jabeur said.
“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.”
Late decisions, puzzling choices and a lack of communication with the ITF
The problems currently being encountered in Cancun all stem from the WTA’s inability to decide upon, and make arrangements for, a host destination for the WTA Finals in ample time. The final decision was only made in September.
This was down to the fact that Saudi Arabia had been expected to be the destination of choice, before resurfacing controversy made the WTA think twice. Despite a lucrative four-year offer from the Czech Republic being on the table, one that made much more geographical and logistical sense, the WTA were unwilling to put off the prospect of Saudi Arabia hosting the Finals for more than one year.
The result of this thinking meant the venue they chose – rather bizarrely – did not have the court and other necessary facilities readily available – they required construction.
For this reason, the stadium being used for this prestigious event is in fact only a temporary structure erected at short notice, meaning it was not ready until the day before play began on Saturday morning.
World No 1 and reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has also made her feelings on this matter abundantly clear.
“I am very disappointed with the WTA and the experience so far at the WTA Finals,” the Belarusian said.
“This is not the level of organisation we expect for the Finals… as a player I really feel disrespected by the WTA. I think most of us do.”
The sub-par standard of this year’s WTA Finals comes at the end of a year in which there has been increasing player frustration towards the WTA as a governing body. Continuing controversies around pay disparities with the ATP and repeated calls for scheduling reform to mitigate against late-night finishes have all fallen on deaf ears.
This is the second year running that the WTA Finals has been organised at very late notice, with the tournament’s quality being negatively affected as a result.
Not only is the venue an issue, but the WTA’s apparent disregard for the location of the ITF-organised Billie Jean King Cup taking place in the following week has also meant that some top players, Iga Swiatek being one of them, have had to choose between the two events.
Again, this mirrors the exact problems of last year. Mishaps happen, and the financial constraints of the WTA are well-documented. But for the same problems to emerge two years in a row at a tournament that is supposed to be the crowning jewel of the WTA Tour shows an abject failure to learn the lessons of past mistakes.
It hasn’t been lost on the players, and it won’t be easily forgotten either.
This time, the WTA may find the backlash to yet more mismanagement much harder to ignore.
