Year end Tour Finals and Cups

Kennykoalabear · Junior player

RE: Year end Tour Finals and Cups

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

WTA Doubles final is now Monday at 1.30 pm local time. Ellen Perez is supposed to be playing for AUstralia on Tuesday

Ellen Perez
@EllenPerez95
·
12m
Well I play Tuesday 10am... she plays Thursday luckily. Big cya later to making it in time for me

wolf · Tennis legend

Well she has just over 12 and a half hours to make it and probably about 16 until the doubles rubber. She will need this thing called sleep at some point as well. Seems reasonable.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Did you see the Czech team press conference photo ? They put cut outs of Krejcikova and Siniakova as the players wont be there on time. A real blow to the Czechs.

The WTA really need to apologise for this mess , the WTA finals and the clash with the BJK Cup- how can the world individual finals clash with the world team finals like this?

wolf · Tennis legend

Why is that the WTAs fault? It was the ITF that changed their Finals format from a Friday start to a Tuesday start and involved a lot more players.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
Why is that the WTAs fault? It was the ITF that changed their Finals format from a Friday start to a Tuesday start and involved a lot more players.

The itf had set this week and format well before the WTA decided where to play its event. It then chose the other side of the world full knowing the itf schedule. Id say the WTA and itf should have conferred but once the WTA new the itf schedule, to select a venue in Mexico when the players needed to be in Europe the days after, that was poor. Swiatek pulled out of the BJK Cup because of it , when she saw the issue arising.

I just think the WTA could have tried harder for their players, both are showcases of the womens game and the WTA finals messed up in some many ways.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And it would be easy to say the only other options where to play in Saudi (which caused lots of pushback) or Czechia (where they were concerned that Russian and Belarussians would get a visa) but in leaving the venue choice until 6 weeks before the event, they were negligent - the venue should be known by the start of the year to allow publicity, to give the narrative to the season. 6 weeks was the WTAs fault also.

wolf · Tennis legend

I would say the WTA finals week of the year was set in stone way before the ITF changed their format. I mean when did they think they were going to play it?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
I would say the WTA finals week of the year was set in stone way before the ITF changed their format. I mean when did they think they were going to play it?

I agree the week was set; the issue was the venue choice. In terms of the WTA event itself (outdoor in hurricane season, hello!?) and in terms of the travel to the BJK Cup - that is what could have been avoided. No issue with the event following the week after, the same is the case with the Davis Cup Finals following the ATP Tour Finals. The difference is Turin to Malaga is an easy trip; Cancun to Seville is not.

It seems we will probably disagree, but hopefully you get my point?!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

But yes, the ITF arent blameless, in creating a pointless one week team finals event, which should never have happened in the first place (this or the DC finals). TO be fair, WTA, ITF and ATP are all pretty useless!

Lambda · Futures qualifying

The ITF expected players to travel half way around the world when they announced where the BJKC venue was at a time when the WTA Finals were expected to be held in China. So equal criticism should be directed at them for travel expectations.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
The ITF expected players to travel half way around the world when they announced where the BJKC venue was at a time when the WTA Finals were expected to be held in China. So equal criticism should be directed at them for travel expectations.

Well, whatever and whoever to blame, it is a bit of a s**tshow, being frank. These two weeks make womens pro tennis look badly run, dont you think? Regardless of how you apportion blame.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

It also shows the folly of having 3 different bodies organising aspects of pro tennis - it ends up being un coordinated and playing to different agendas.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Anyway, Swiatek ends the season with the title and year end #1 spot with a 12-1 rout of Pegula

www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2023/nov/06/wta-finals-iga-swiatek-v-jessica-pegula-in-the-final-live

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

The atp finals are next week and will have their own thread as we have doubles players taking part.

But here is the marvellous story of the finals, then known as the Masters Cup, in Shanghai 2008 , when #27 Radek Stepanek made the finals as 19th alternate, and the great story that unfolded around it.

x.com/bastienfachan/status/1722261089432576163

This is a nice, fun read

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Wednesday 8th of November 2023 09:08:20 PM