For three years, China was without the biggest tennis tournaments. Many players did not hide the fact that they do not suffer from longing for Asian clubs due to long travel. After a few weeks of the program, it seems that the restart of the tournaments on this continent has not gained many fans. The Czech Petra Kvitová, the German Alexander Zverev or the new world number one of Belarus Aryna Sabalenková have already admitted their embarrassment.
The organizers of both the men’s and women’s tournaments in Beijing were showered. One complaint after another.
First, tennis players complained about the new WTA rule, the so-called performance bye. In other words, a break for players who, in the previous tournament, are among the last four tennis players of the tournament. Thanks to this, they have a free draw in the first round and play only from the second round.
As a result, there was no “freedom” for, for example, the new world number one Aryna Sabalenkova, who had to fight from the first round.
“It didn’t surprise me, because they sent an email in advance, but I don’t understand it. The players will play the semifinals of the tournament in the 250 or 500 category and get a free draw for the 1000? It doesn’t work like that, you have to earn it for a long time. I hope it won’t happen again, Belarus got angry.
More complaints came after the organizers experimented a lot with the composition of the matches on the program. Petra Kvitová also complained, who played the first round until one hour after midnight and had to be on the court again for the second round the next afternoon, even though some of the opening matches of the tournament had not yet been played.
Even the German Alexander Zverev, who did not finish the round of 16 duel at 2:40 in the morning, did not leave a thread dry for the organizers.
“Obviously, playing until almost three in the morning is challenging. There are so many great courts here that we could have played on, and not wait until midnight for this one to be free,” Zverev shook his head.
And that is far from all. The balls that are played with in China are also a big topic. They are very difficult, the Swiss Stan Wawrinka already complained about them last week.
“I don’t understand why balls change so often on the circuit. That’s why so many players have wrist problems,” said the Swiss veteran.
In recent days, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz or the Russian Daniil Medvedev have joined him.
“Once you play a few shots with them, they’re big, heavy, it’s like fiddling with a grapferuit,” joked the Russian.
So far, the organizers have not responded as to whether they will learn from the criticism for organizing future editions.
But in Australia they lead by example. The management of the first Grand Slam of the season came with the news that from next year the opening event of the big four will start already on Sunday to avoid long night marathons.
2023-10-04 04:40:56
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