Maybe It’s Time For New Leadership

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, November 6, 2023

The WTA caused controversy staging its WTA Finals in Cancun.

Martina Navratilova believes major mis-steps in Cancun will create a corporate casualty.

Sabalenka: Very Disappointed with WTA

Hall of Famer Navratilova suggests WTA CEO Steve Simon is unlikely to survive the fall out from the Cancun calamity and asserts it’s time for a woman to take over the Women’s Tennis Association.

“Maybe it’s time for new leadership,” Navratilova told broadcaster Amazon Prime. “For me personally, this being a woman’s association and being involved for such a long time from the beginning, we’ve only had two women at the head of it.

“I think it’s time, hopefully, when we get a new leader, that it’s a woman. There’s plenty of them that are qualified for the job.”

Critics have ripped the WTA over conditions in Cancun for the WTA Finals.

Though the Tour cites the WTA Finals as its crown jewel, the stadium was completed just days before the first round-robin match limiting player practice time.

The WTA reportedly chose Cancun over both Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic to host the elite eight-woman singles event. That decision was made the first week of September, providing little turnaround time to build the temporary stadium in time for the start of the WTA Finals on October 29th.

In addition, extreme weather in October delayed construction of the temporary stadium. 

Throughout the tournament, players have griped about dead spots on the court, inconsistent and sometimes funky bounces.

After annihilating Maria Sakkari 6-0, 6-1 in her opening round-robin match, Aryna Sabalenka blasted the WTA for conditions in Cancun saying “I really feel disrespected by the WTA.”

“I’m happy that I was able to stay focused tonight, overcome the conditions, and play well,” Sabalenka wrote on social media. “I have to say though that I am very disappointed with the WTA and the experience so far at the WTA Finals.

“As I said in my press conference tonight, as a player I really feel disrespected by the WTA. I think most of us do. This is not the level of organization we expect for the Finals.”

Strong comments about court condition from World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka on her Instagram feed last night: pic.twitter.com/BbIFbvjVu2

— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) October 30, 2023

In response, Simon and WTA leaders admitted mistakes were made in Cancun and vowed to improve in a letter sent to WTA Finals competitors and published…