Sabalenka protects herself from the rain with towels in the semi-final against Swiatek.HENRY ROMERO (Portal)
The story was born badly, improvised, in a hurry and in a haphazard and ill-considered environment for no reason. This Masters Cup ends even worse when you take into account the series of adversities that have occurred since the tennis players landed in Cancun last week: an unfinished court, the competitors have barely rehearsed, standing water, a disastrous surface, half-empty stands and strong gusts of wind that completely ruined the show. As if that wasn’t enough, water and more water. The heavy rains this Saturday put an end to the nonsense and prevented the two best players in the world today, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, from playing in the second semi-final after the barely contested semi-final between Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff. So it’s quite a mess. A full blown blush. The absurd.
An undeserved season finale that puts the spotlight on WTA President and CEO Steve Simon. The American, who has been at the helm of the body that regulates the women’s competition since 2015, chose Cancun as the venue with just a month’s notice and now all eyes are on him and his team, overwhelmed by the events. The players’ complaints are backed by facts. The party that is not a party. Pegula and Gauff couldn’t compete without breaks, but the big duel of the day was immediately interrupted when Sabalenka and Swiatek – neck and neck for the throne at the end of the year – had only played three games. It rained and rained, so the organization made the (irretrievable) decision to suspend the action, and the funnel created underlines what was suspected: Simon and his people slipped.
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Not just anyone, but a certain Martina Navratilova. A few days earlier, the legendary former player – 67 years old and with 18 major singles titles to her name – responded at an on-field press conference, downplaying participants’ protests about the surface’s irregularities. This time, however, it was more than violent. Speak clearly and clearly.
“It shouldn’t have happened [la elección] so late. There were a number of bad decisions. Steve Simon has been the boss for nine years and here we are… Are you coming to Cancun during the rainy season? At a top event like this you can’t expect it not to rain. “You have to accept the bad decisions you have made,” he said, and then continued: “Maybe the time has come for new leadership.” Since we are a women’s association and have been around for so long, we had from the beginning to only three women at the top. I think it’s time. I hope that when we have a new leader, it will be a woman. There are many who are qualified for the position. “Steve will have a hard time moving on, everything is pointing in a different direction.”
The final on Monday
The sad outcome of the tournament is accompanied by tensions between the president and the professionals, who are demanding a number of improvements from the WTA rector that, in their opinion, have not been met. The tennis players talk about salaries, schedules, formats and other conditions. The distancing is obvious and two days earlier the Polish Swiatek had expected that it would apply “pressure”, while the group present in Cancún threw a series of questions into the air, revealing that the election was meaningless in substance and form: why Cancun? (with no tennis tradition) and at this point in time, in the middle of storm and hurricane season? Why a track for only 4,200 spectators, uncovered and then exposed to bad weather?
The locals don’t seem too happy either, as they don’t fully understand the benefits that an investment of between 14 and 15 million dollars can bring, according to the co-director of the event, Gustavo Santoscoy Arriaga, in statements to El Economista. Organizers estimated that between 40,000 and 45,000 fans would attend the tournament, but over the course of the week the course registered barely half or a third of registrations, if not a minimal presence at the doubles matches.
Neither party is happy, and now the WTA is trying to resolve everything by running away. As stated in the official program, the games will continue this Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. Spanish time). Sabalenka and Swiatek would, in the best case scenario, go to court at the earliest at 4:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m.), without anyone being able to give a guarantee, because the clouds will still be there, looming. And in the event that they are benevolent and do not download, the circumstance arises that the finalist Pegula may have to play several matches on the same day, since she also competes in doubles with Gauff. The singles final will take place on Monday at 10:30 p.m. Spanish time.
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