The Broken WTA Asian Hard Court Swing

Loser of the Week: The Desperately Broken WTA Asian Hard Court Swing

Each week I usually write a ‘Player of the Week’ article about a tennis player from the WTA or ATP who had impressed during the week by winning a title, or just generally exceeding expectations. This week, the obvious candidate for the title would have been Venus Williams. The 35 year-old turned back the years and, despite injury, fought her way past 21 year-old Garbine Muguruza to claim the Wuhan title.

However, to contribute any more to the already vast literature regarding Venus’ triumph would honestly be redundant. Instead, a light should be shone on the other major storyline that threatened the ubiquity of Venus’ victory: the Wuhan Open failing to rectify a near-disastrous Asian hard-court swing.

The section of the tennis season got off to an ominous start prior to play commencing in Wuhan, when a ‘Hawkeye’ technician mysteriously died while installing their technology around the courts. The saddening incident saw Hawkeye withdraw their utilities from the tournament. This meant that each time a player was dubious about a line judge’s call, raising their hands would not instigate the electronic review so many of them rely on.

The deficiency paled in comparison to the other issue on display in Wuhan: a large quantity of players were too injured or fatigued to compete at their highest level. Big-name players Lucie Safarova, US Open champion Flavia Pennetta and Eugenie Bouchard all withdrew prior to the tournament. During the tournament, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic retired during their matches. They were joined by Garbine Muguruza who pulled out of her final against Venus Williams with an ankle injury. The most interesting part? Venus, the Wuhan champion herself, was injured, with a nagging left leg injury that just barely failed to end her title dreams.

This string of retirements has also proven a problem in Beijing this week. In the first round of the tournament, Coco Vandeweghe, Bouchard, Zarina Diyas, Lesia Tsurenko and top seed Simona Halep all withdrew.

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Needless to say, the number of withdrawals is far too high.

It’s not just the withdrawals that is concerning though, as several of the brightest performers from the first half of the year – Karolina Pliskova, Carla Suarez Navarro, and Timea Bacsinszky, among others – have admitted to succumbing to excessive fatigue in the latter half of the year.

Entering the all-important WTA Finals in Singapore, the WTA will be hoping that their top stars are fit to participate. Indeed, although unlikely, there is the possibility that the final tournament of the year could go ahead without the world’s current top 6 in action.

No. 1 Serena has already withdrawn.

No. 2 Halep, although optimistic about appearing in Singapore, is nursing a potentially-sidelining achilles injury.

No. 3 Maria Sharapova hasn’t played a full match since Wimbledon, and will undoubtedly place her focus on the Fed Cup Final the following week – if she doesn’t play, she may not qualify for the Olympic games next year.

No. 4 Petra Kvitova has been suffering a debilitating case of mononucleosis this year and, like Sharapova, will be placing her gaze on the Fed Cup final the week after Singapore.

No. 5 Garbine Muguruza sustained an ankle injury in Wuhan which may hinder the new world no. 5 on the Road to Singapore.

And No. 6 Lucie Safarova is recovering in hospital following a bacterial infection and stomach muscle injury.

The fact that Angelique Kerber – the no. 7 on the Road to Singapore – could be the top seed in Singapore underlies the fact that the Asian hard court swing is pushing the players too far after maintaining their battle-ready bodies for 9 consecutive months. It’s something that the WTA will have to look to remedy next year, whether it be by extending the time between mandatory tournaments, or seeing that tournament directors scatter rounds so that players can recover properly between their showings on court. Indeed, the performance byes offered this week in Beijing to the four semifinalists from Wuhan are a great idea that should be applied more frequently (the only other use of performance byes this year was during the Antwerp-Dubai fortnight).

On that note, it seems that players aren’t the only folks on court who are tired after a long season, as line judges and umpires made some severe – and arguably incorrect – decisions in Wuhan. The worst occurred possibly in the semifinal match between Muguruza and Kerber. Muguruza requested an injury timeout at 3-all in the final set tiebreak – hardly an appropriate time to request one. Even still, the Spaniard was allowed to delay play to wait for and to be tended to by a trainer. It was hardly an acceptable call made by the on-court umpire to allow the extended delay.

And if the WTA do want to get the best out of their biggest and brightest stars (and their umpires), they need to revisit the final stretch of the tour schedule for years to follow.

Next: Serena Williams Skips Remainder of 2015: Will Maria Sharapova Follow?

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