How frustrated are the top lady ballers about the WTA's new Road Map 2010?
Well, Dinara Safina dropped a hint after her 6-2, 7-6 loss to Vera Zvonareva in the Moscow semifinals on Saturday:
If they [WTA] don't listen to what we have to say, we might even choose to boycott the new tour. They said the leading players would have to play in designated tournaments while lower-ranked players would be able to enter any event they like. There's no logic in that at all.Svetlana Kuznetsova also chimed in about her feelings about the revamped schedule:
What if all the top players choose to enter the same tournament? What will the WTA do then? We want to know.
A boycott is a very serious matter and not something to just throw out there lightly. But the Roadmap has some grey areas and forcing these ballers to play tourneys is always a little tricky because if they don't want to play, they won't play and they'll eat the fines.I was told only two players from the top 10 could enter a smaller tournament like the Kremlin Cup next year.
What if [No. 1-ranked] Jelena Jankovicand Serena or Venus [Williams] want to play here? Then all the top Russian players, and there are five of us in the top 10, will not be able to play in their home tournament. That's nonsense.
Questions do remain: How involved were the baller reps in the development of Roadmap 2010? Plus, did the WTA Tour and the ballers, or at the very least the baller reps and Tour, have a major sit down since the Roadmap was announced to breakout this new schedule and answer any questions or concerns??
From the outside it seems like a very disjointed process where the WTA is making important decisions without real input from the ballers - a certain recipe for disaster.
(image via Getty)
I always got the impression that the top players were consulted w/r/t the New Roadmap and they all essentially signed off on it. If that's not the case then the WTA and Larry Scott are looking at an ATP/De Villiers-type situation.
ReplyDeleteDamn! The WTA is one giant problem after another. Somehow I don't think this is what Billie Jean King had in mind 30 years ago. Either the administration is filled with pricks or the players are a bunch of intransigent divas (or both).
ReplyDeletethe way safina speaks about the situation, it sounds like they have no idea what this new roadmap is all about.
ReplyDeletei mean, did they actually read the thing? sveta is quoted as saying, "was told only two players from the top 10 could enter a smaller tournament like the Kremlin Cup next year." so has she not read through what these changes entail?
either the ballers are uninformed/misinformed, the WTA took measures without their consent, or the WTA took measures that were above and beyond what the ballers and/or their reps wanted.
these tours are becoming very messy - if we're thinking in business terms than a lot of these procedures need to be centralized and overseen by one body that gets counsel from the ATP, WTA and the ballers.
check this out
ReplyDeletehttp://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=51201
I assume the roadmap was in english and the majority of players don't know english too well. The "was told" comment holds true to that.
ReplyDeleteSybille Bammer VS Francesca Schiavone was a surewin of 7.41% at Sports Arbitrage Union
ReplyDeletehttp://arbitrageunion.blogspot.com/2008/10/sybille-bammer-vs-francesca-schiavone.html