Doubles ace slams Paula Badosa for doing what singles players do a lot

The bottom line of this article, I will go ahead and tell you, is to win your matches and then you can spout your frustration. The issue at hand is that Paula Badosa and her doubles partner at the China Open, Karolina Muchova, defeated Irina Khromachev and her partner, Anna Danilina, in the second round, and then Badosa and Muchova withdrew from doubles to focus on singles.

This kind of thing happens a lot in tennis. Players make more money in singles than they do in doubles so if there is a chance for them to move forward in singles it is better financially for them if they do. Professional tennis players play the sport in order to earn a living. If they have a chance to earn more coin doing one thing than another, they are going to take that chance.

Khromachev was miffed, though. She was upset that after being beaten by Badosa and Muchova they withdrew. The key here is that had Khromachev and her partner won the match, she likely would not have complained. In other words, her post on Instagram raging about the WTA allowing the practice of withdrawal seems more like sour grapes.

Paula Badosa criticized for doing a common practice in tennis

She wrote on her IG page, "Bravo WTA. We lost to singles players in doubles in Beijing tournament, and second round they are pulling out because they don't care about doubles. But they continue to play singles this week. Completely crazy by taking place of teams who could enter and participate fully. I had this situation twice this year that when they won first round they are pulling out, without respect to doubles players."

Again, the important aspect here is that Khromachev is complaining about players withdrawing to hopefully benefit themselves financially after she and her partner have been bounced out of a tournament. She could have fixed the problem herself. She could have won the match and ended any need for her opponents to withdraw in the future.

As for Badosa and Muchova, they did not offer a reason for the withdrawal, but it was clear. Both, at the time, were advancing in the more lucrative part of the China Open. In order to get a bit more rest, they chose to pull out of the doubles part. It's a common practice. They should not be blamed for what they did.

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