Unsafe conditions, lack of promotion & controversial locations: How the WTA Finals has been undersold despite being the WTA's biggest event
Despite being the concluding tournament for women's tennis, the WTA Finals, have garnered attention stemming from controversies that have been accompanying its organisation.
This, however, is not something new as the WTA has often received backlash for overlooking basic concerns in the organisation of tournaments.
The recent announcement with regards for the season-ending WTA finals being held in Saudi Arabia from 2024 to 2026 is just another and perhaps, the most recent example of the aforementioned disregard to not just the players' concerns but also the general public opinion.
The WTA finals will not only host the top eight singles players and doubles teams but based on WTA's agreement with the Saudi Tennis Federation, will also offer a record prize money of $15.25 million subject to increase in the following two years.
However, the record sum does not necessarily shift focus from the fact that the country is perhaps using its recent investment in sports as a shield from concerns about human rights and more importantly women's rights. The latter is a point worth highlighting because WTA as a body is rather synonymous with women's tennis.
Ever since speculations regarding the now-finalised decision started resurfacing, tennis legends like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, expressed their displeasure with regards to the same. However, it's not just the tennis stars who condone the decison, but also people from the Human Rights community.
Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch said (via Economic Times):
"The human rights risks in Saudi Arabia to players, fans, and journalists are very serious. Sports such as tennis have only been allowed in the kingdom since 2018 for women and girls. Until that time, women and girls were not welcome in the stadium even to watch sports."
Therefore, as the history and a general understanding of the landscape of Saudi Arabia calls for social change, especially in terms of women's rights and their status in the country, hosting a major women specific sporting event raises all sorts of views and opinions with those in opposition occupying greater space than those in favour.
A look back at the WTA Finals at Cancun, Mexico
The lack of consideration reflected by the WTA's decisions in organising its biggest event is not a recent happening but has been in the limelight several times with coincidentally, last year's event being one of the said examples.
The WTA announced in September 2023 that the season-ending event would take place in Cancun in southeast Mexico from 29 October and culminate two days prior to the start of the Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup Finals in Sevilla which was scheduled for 7 November. The latter is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and put the players in a fix with regards to choosing which tournament to play and which one to drop.
World No.1 Iga Swiatek who went on to win the WTA finals decided that playing both would not be feasible, a call that was also taken by World No.3 Coco Gauff.
What's worth taking note of in this case was that the lack of consideration with regards to the schedule of the WTA Finals and BJK Cup Finals took place the preceding year as well with the former taking place in Fort Worth, Texas, USA and the latter, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Swiatek had expressed her displeasure back then as well and said (via ESPN):
"I'm disappointed that (the) tennis governing bodies didn't come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments, giving us only one day to travel through the globe and changing the time zone,"
She added, "This situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury."
What went wrong with WTA Finals 2023
The bad weather in Cancun affected the player's performance but more importantly, the real issue lay in the organisation of the tournament with extremely basic prerequisities, including something as basic as a decent tennis court not being up to the mark.
A temporary tennis court was constructed in the middle of a golf course and was meant to cater to a little more than 4000 people which regardless of the already low seating capacity, went unoccupied.
In addition to the uneven ground, the make-do court was made available to practice only a day prior to the start of the tournament.
After beating Maria Sakarri in her round-robin opener, World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka spoke about "feeling disrespected" by the WTA. She said (via First Post):
“I have to say that I am very disappointed with the WTA and the experience so far at the WTA Finals. As a player, I feel really disrespected by the WTA. I think most of us do.
“This is not the level of organisation we expect for the Finals. To be honest, I don’t feel safe moving on this court a lot of the time, the bounce is not consistent at all, and we weren’t able to practise on this court until yesterday for the first time.
With grossly inadequate facilities one year, followed by claims pointing towards the host country trying to "sportwash" its human rights record the next, questions emerging for the WTA come from a place of social responsibility, thereby extending beyond the realm of sports and tennis.
But, whether or not the Women's Tennis Association be able to adequately defend itself and its decisions is something that waits to be seen.