"Don't ever recall the WTA being this unprepared"- Cancun stadium still being incomplete with less than a week left for WTA Finals frustrates fans
The WTA finals tournament, set to be held from October 29 to November 5, will hit the courts in Cancun, Mexico, showcasing the top eight singles players and the top eight doubles pairs.
The WTA announced the venue on Thursday, September 7, putting an end to all the speculation surrounding the year-end tournament's whereabouts. Before the location was finalized, there were rumors about the finals being hosted by Saudi Arabia or the Czech Republic.
It is believed that the WTA has allocated between $14-15 million for the stadium's modular construction for the Cancun tournament. The temporary stadium will be constructed near the players’ hotel and will have a capacity to accommodate 4,000 spectators. It will also have a couple of practice courts.
A video clip of the stadium, however, recently emerged online, showing that construction is still ongoing with only four days till the start of the season-ending competition.
Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Aryna Sabalenka recently arrived in Cancun, while Iga Swiatek has already been at the location for a few days. The snippet of the unfinished stadium caught tennis fans’ attention and they called out WTA for its incompetence and disorganization.
One of the fans was taken aback by the WTA's lack of preparation for the finals tournament, tweeting:
"I don’t ever recall the WTA being this unprepared for the Women’s Year End Championships … well with the exception of last year’s?."
Another supporter pushed the players to speak out against the WTA.
"We need the WTA girlies to riot at this point".
Yet another tennis enthusiast joked that the players could always use the Rafa Nadal Training Centre, located to the north of Cancun, as a backup training facility.
"Wow. The ladies can go practice at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre at the Grand Palladium in Cancun, I guess. I heard they have great camps".
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans on X:
Maria Sakkari replaced Karolina Muchova in the 2023 WTA Finals
Karolina Muchova, who qualified for the WTA finals as the eighth-ranked player, will not be participating in the event owing to a persistent wrist injury in her right hand. She announced her withdrawal from the tournament with an emotional message on her Instagram account on Tuesday, October 24.
World No. 9 Maria Sakkari has replaced the Czech in the singles draw, making it her third consecutive WTA Finals appearance. She first appeared in the competition in 2021, when she reached the semifinals before losing to Anett Kontaveit.
Sakkaria fell at the same hurdle the following year, losing to eventual champion Caroline Garcia in straight sets. This year has been extraordinary for the Greek. She reached two WTA Tour finals in 2023 — winning the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open and finishing as the runner-up at the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington after losing to Coco Gauff in the final.