"I don't think the tour can actually do something about this, I think it's about the players" - Karolina Pliskova disagrees with Victoria Azarenka over widespread coach abuse on the WTA Tour
Karolina Pliskova reckons it is not the job of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to supervise the personal relationships between players and coaches, thereby placing herself in direct opposition to Victoria Azarenka's viewpoint.
Weighing in on the exploitation of young players by coaches, Azarenka had earlier commented that the tour should step in and prevent such manipulative behavior, which was becoming increasingly widespread, according to the Belarusian.
Speaking at her recent press conference at the US Open, however, Pliskova remarked that any preventive measures should be left to the players themselves and should not involve any authorities from the outside.
"I didn't hear any story about Fiona Ferro, so I don't know what is going on. I don't know. Yeah, okay. I don't think there is a problem in this. I don't think the tour can actually do something about this. I think it's about the players," Pliskova said.
2016 finalist Karolina Pliskova advances to her 1st Round of 16 at a major this season, defeating Belinda Bencic 57 64 63.
Faces Victoria Azarenka in a battle of former finalists next.
#USOpen
While the Czech admitted that some players were very young and prone to such manipulation, she was of the opinion that their parents or other members of their team should handle the issue internally. For the tour to step in and tell players what they can or cannot do was simply unfathomable for the World No. 22.
"Of course, some of them, they are super young. They maybe don't have many choices. But they still have parents. I think they have enough people around themselves to somehow handle this situation," Karolina Pliskova said, adding, "I think what the tour can do, they cannot just go, like, inside. This is like a team thing, this is almost like a family. They cannot just go there and say, Okay, you are too much."
In light of Fiona Ferro's accusations of rape and sexual assault against her former coach in France, this is indeed more urgent than ever
This from Victoria Azarenka today: https://t.co/TCLBmzDZkR
Pliskova further added that the presence of mental coaches at events, a practice already introduced by the WTA, was a good step towards helping players who wanted to speak about such things. At the same time, she was not in favor of others initiating the conversation with unwilling players.
"I don't think there is a way. I don't think somebody should, like, speak in it. But maybe of course to have somebody who can help in case you feel like you just need to speak about some things," Karolina Pliskova said. "I think actually there is at every tournament I think now some, like, mental coach or somebody. I think there is."
As she gave it more thought, the 30-year-old only turned more uncertain, stating that there were many kinds of relationships between players and coaches and that it was impossible to give an objective opinion.
"But I think this was always like here. And of course some of the coaches, maybe they take it little bit more seriously," Karolina Pliskova said. "I don't know. There is many relationships also between players and coaches. It's like that. Actually I don't know what I think about this. Sorry."
"I've never had a situation like that, so it's hard for me to even think about how it must feel" - Karolina Pliskova on the Fiona Ferro situation
Karolina Pliskova also touched on Fiona Ferro's case, which kickstarted this whole conversation. Ferro accused her former coach of raping her when she was a minor, inviting a lot of support from fans and pundits on social media.
Having never experienced anything close to what Ferro went through, Pliskova sadly noted that she could not even imagine how to handle something like that and it would therefore be difficult for her to comment on the issue.
"Honestly, I've never had a situation like that, so it's hard for me to even think about how it must feel, how to kind of push back that kind of behavior. I'm really sorry that it happened to Fiona," Pliskova said. "Honestly it's not a lot -- I mean, I don't have -- my life experience isn't so big that I can really say a lot about that. I wouldn't know how it feels."
I don’t blame players that aren’t prepared to speak up publicly about an issue as troubling and misunderstood as coach/player abuse/grooming, but I certainly applaud those that do. Well played @vika7 now let’s all listen and do something about it. twitter.com/simonrbriggs/s…
In such situations, the World No. 22 hoped the WTA could step in and take appropriate action without delay, while at the same time wondering if the organization was already working on it behind the scenes.
"I hope that if something like that happens, we're going to kind of be safe and have trust in WTA that they're going to take care of this stuff properly," Karolina Pliskova said. "I'm sure they're doing that. It's not something that it's always visible."
At this point, Pliskova conceded that Victoria Azarenka's previous comments should be given more weight since she has been around the sport for longer and was privy to more information than herself. Either way, Pliskova conveyed her regret to Ferro, hoping that things would improve for her soon.
"Yeah, but honestly, I think Vika is the one that can say a little bit more because she has been on tour for so many years," Karolina Pliskova said. "I'm pretty happy that I always had good people around me, and I'm pretty sorry that it happened to Fiona, yeah."