Iga Swiatek hopes for WTA Finals stability and Coco Gauff urged to take a break - WTA Finals Diary
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Updated 08/11/2022 at 10:14 GMT
Iga Swiatek has urged the WTA to follow the ATP with their staging of the year-end finals after the last two events were held in Guadalajara and Texas. Chris Evert thinks Coco Gauff to take a break, which won't be possible this week as she heads to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, while Veronika Kudermetova got a trophy and a cowboy hat at the WTA Finals. Reem Abulleil covers all in her diary.
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Swiatek urges WTA to take ATP’s lead
The WTA Finals in Fort Worth has come to an end and the success and the future of the championships will be debated for weeks to come.
The year-end championships were meant to have a secure and financially lucrative home in Shenzhen and the first staging of the event there in 2019 saw Ashleigh Barty earn the highest-ever prize money at a tennis tournament; $4.42m to be precise.
The tour had signed a 10-year deal with Shenzhen but China’s strict Covid-19 rules and the controversy surrounding Peng Shuai has forced the WTA to search for single-year deals until the situation is resolved.
A long-term deal for the WTA Finals allows the host city to promote the event from the start of the year and properly secure sponsorship for it. Single-year deals make it hard for that to happen, especially when the event is announced just seven weeks in advance, as was the case with Fort Worth.
That being said, the 14,000 capacity Dickies Arena provided a fantastic home for the WTA Finals these past eight days, and by the end of the tournament, the lower bowl – which was the only section in use for the event – was full for the final.
The total prize money on offer for singles was $5 million, compared to $14 million in Shenzhen three years ago, but it’s worth noting that given the circumstances with China, the WTA had to put up the prize money themselves.
“We’re not going to continue to do these one-year decisions,” WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon told The New York Times this week. “It’s not sustainable. If it looks like we can’t go back to China or aren’t ready to go back, then I do think we will carve out a multi-year situation, because we need to for the business.”
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was asked to give her feedback on the WTA Finals in Fort Worth and while she said she understood why things are the way they are right now, she urged the tour to do better.
“I've never experienced WTA Finals, like in its prime, you know, in terms of the organisation and WTA, like not hurrying with everything, if you know what I mean,” said Swiatek, whose two appearances came in Guadalajara last year and Fort Worth this week.
“So I would love for WTA to kind of settle for next year's on one place and actually make it so big as it was or maybe as ATP has.
“But on the other hand, I'm kind of understanding why it happened and from business side is probably hard to make this kind of event. But I just think if ATP can do it, we can do it.
“There's always talk about prize money during ATP and WTA Finals. And it's just pretty sad that WTA kind of got hit by Covid and by not having the place to play before and organise everything properly. But on the other hand, you have an example in ATP, that they were able to do everything and even increase the prize money.
“So, hopefully, for next time, we're going to be more prepared. I know Covid happened. But on the other hand, most of the tournaments were able to provide even more or the same. So hopefully next year this is going to change.”
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Iga Swiatek lost in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals
Image credit: Getty Images
The 21-year-old Pole cited the ATP as an example, but it’s worth noting the men’s tour did not have to deal with the repercussions of the situation in China, and already had a deal in place with Turin. The ATP also followed the WTA when it came to the record prize money Shenzhen offered in 2019.
Daria Kasatkina paid tribute to the efforts put in by the tour and tournament organisers, acknowledging the tough times they’ve had to go through to put the event together.
“Very good that it happened because I know how many problems and troubles WTA is facing in the past few years,” said Kasatkina.
“Post-Covid and everything was going on around the world, and it's a very tough situation with China. It's a difficult situation, financial situation and geography situation, to try to put the tournaments on. Of course it wasn't absolutely perfect, but they didn't have enough time to prepare. I understand everything so I'm just really thankful that the finals happened and thanks for all the job they've done.”
Evert wants Coco to ‘take a breather’
Coco Gauff has had a phenomenal 2022 in which she reached a career-high No. 4 in singles, No. 1 in doubles, a maiden Grand Slam singles final and a second Grand Slam doubles final.
The 18-year-old American qualified for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles, but came up short in Fort Worth, losing all six matches she contested in both disciplines.
Gauff understandably appeared low on energy during the WTA Finals – she did after all play 100 matches (60 in singles and 40 in doubles) in this highly-impressive 2022 campaign.
Former world No. 1 and 18-time major champion Chris Evert believes Gauff can benefit from a short break, to give herself a chance to rest and work on certain aspects of her game.
“She looked tired this tournament,” Evert told reporters in Fort Worth this week.
“She’s actually looked tired the last few tournaments. I think it’s a lot to ask. That’s why we have that restrictive rule, parents would give us such a hard time about it but you have no idea you’re going to burn your kid out,” Evert added, referring to the WTA rule that restricts the number of tournaments players under 18 years old are allowed to enter.
“I think she should play a little less and try to organise and figure out what the forehand is. How can she improve the forehand and what is she doing wrong on the forehand, how come it’s not more consistent?
“Even iron out a safer serve, a more confident serve, because I still feel when she goes up, she’s so fast when she serves, both first and second serve, if one little second is off, she’s going to miss the ball. So she needs to slow it down and she needs to find more consistency in her serve and her forehand.
“And I don’t think that’s going to happen just playing week after week after week. I think she plays a lot, I think she’s a very physical player, I think the competition is so much tougher now than in any other era.
“So it’s almost like playing the semi-final or a final the first round you play and by the time these players get to the quarters or semis, they’re exhausted, and then they have to play next week. Maybe play less doubles too. I’d like to see her take a little breather, she’s 18.
“At some point take some time off and really try to iron out that forehand side.”
Gauff will not get the chance to rest this week as she is playing for the United States in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Glasgow.
Successful debut for Kudermetova
She was the first alternate in singles after just missing out on a WTA Finals qualification spot with a loss to Maria Sakkari in Guadalajara the previous week, but Veronika Kudermetova still gets to walk away from Fort Worth with a trophy – and a cowboy hat – after triumphing in doubles alongside her partner Elise Mertens.
Making her WTA Finals debut, Kudermetova pulled off a clutch forehand winner to create a match point against the Czech defending champions Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova, and she and Mertens secured the victory, after trailing 2-7 in the match tiebreak.
Kudermetova will rise to No. 2 in the world in doubles thanks to her efforts this week in Texas.
“When I came here I tried not to think about the singles, I said it’s okay, right now I need to focus on the doubles. I think to go back home with a trophy like a champion is a very nice feeling,” said Kudermetova.
Destination: Glasgow!
Mertens has a race against time as she is due to join her Belgian team-mates at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Glasgow, where they have an opening tie at 10am on Wednesday against Slovakia.
The Belgian finished her champions press conference at 8:20pm at Dickies Arena and was trying to catch her 10:00pm flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Asked if she is expected to play against Slovakia on Wednesday, Mertens said with a chuckle: “I don’t know. My captain…I don’t know, I have no idea.”
Mertens was making her fourth appearance in doubles at the WTA Finals and got her hands on the trophy for the first time.
“Finally,” said Mertens. “I’m proud that I’m here for the fourth time. They say third time’s a charm, but I would say fourth time’s a charm. I’m just proud that eventually I got it, but it’s teamwork. We were very consistent this week, we kept believing, even though we won the first match in a super-tiebreak, the energy was there this week.”
WTA Finals singles champion Caroline Garcia is also not done yet as she heads to Le Portel, Boulogne sur Mer, where she is expected to lead the French team in their Billie Jean King Cup play-off tie against Netherlands on Friday and Saturday.
Stats of the day
- Caroline Garcia is just the second Frenchwoman and first since Amelie Mauresmo in 2005 to win the WTA Finals.
- Garcia is the 25th woman to win the WTA Finals and the eighth different champion over the past eight editions of the tournament.
- Garcia, who will rise to No. 4 in the world on Tuesday, is the first French player to finish a year inside the world’s top five since Amelie Mauresmo was No. 3 in 2006.
- Garcia is the first player to win the title at the WTA Finals after turning 29 since Serena Williams in 2014, and fourth overall.
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