Sunday, December 22, 2024
Sports

The week in tennis: Swiatek captures title in mishap-laden WTA Finals, while Djokovic wins in Paris despite illness

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Iga Swiatek won the weather-delayed WTA Finals on Monday following a statement 6-1, 6-0 victory over Jessica Pegula in less than an hour. With the title — her first at the event — Swiatek reclaims the world No. 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka after an eight-week absence and will end the year in the top spot for the second consecutive season.

Even with the lopsided score that left little doubt about the outcome, the 22-year-old Swiatek couldn’t hide what the achievement meant to her. She fell to the ground in celebration after the final point, before clenching her fists as she got up and yelling her signature “Jazda” — the Polish expression for “Let’s go” — toward those in her player box.

“We had many ups and downs,” Swiatek said moments later during the trophy ceremony. “This is for sure an up. We will for sure have many more if we keep working like that.”

So, that’s the positive news about the week in Cancun. And while Swiatek’s rise back to the top is certainly an inspiring storyline to end the season, it’s not what anyone will remember from the 2023 WTA Finals.

From start to finish, the year-end event has been marred with snafus. Swiatek even mentioned the week had “not been easy” multiple times in her victory speech.

After rumors that the tournament would be held in Saudi Arabia — and criticism surrounding the delay in announcement — Cancun was officially named as the host in September, about six weeks before play was scheduled to begin. It left the city with little time to prepare, and the stadium wasn’t ready when players arrived.

It was finished once play started on Sunday, but players were given limited time to practice on it ahead of competition and the court wasn’t in the best condition. Sabalenka said players “don’t even feel safe to move on this court” after her opening match, and later added on Instagram that “the bounce is not consistent at all.”

“I have to say though that I am very disappointed with the WTA and the experience so far at the WTA Finals,” Sabalenka wrote in a now-expired Instagram story. “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.”

The WTA defended the stadium and court in a statement and said both did “meet our strict performance standards.”

But there was nothing the WTA could say about the weather woes that then plagued the event. There was no roof on the temporary court, so rain delayed matches throughout the week, even suspending several overnight until the following day.

Gale-force winds were present throughout, which resulted in wild ball tosses and even debris blowing across the court. During a doubles match, Pegula had her visor blown off her head after serving, as garbage cans flew just several feet away. A let was called.

Even umbrellas couldn’t spare players any relief during changeovers.

Pegula and her partner Coco Gauff had their final doubles group match delayed until Sunday, and, had they won, there was a chance Pegula would have had to play three doubles matches the day before playing in the singles final. But the duo lost to Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva, and that twosome played another match hours later to advance to the final, which was ultimately also pushed to Monday.

With the turnaround already extremely tight between the WTA Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup finals, which get underway on Tuesday in Seville, Spain, many players, including Pegula and Coco Gauff, opted to skip the latter event. But others wanted to play in both.

Australian Ellen Perez was one such player, but after reaching the delayed doubles final with partner Nicole Melichar-Martinez, Perez was left with mere hours between the final in Cancun and Australia’s opening match in Seville on Tuesday morning, 4,877 miles away.

Perez took to Twitter to share her dismay about the situation — and ask if anyone had a private plane who could help her. “Really not impressed with this scheduling disaster,” Perez wrote. “Why do I have to be punished for this?”

Perez and Melichar-Martinez lost to Siegemund and Zvonareva 6-4, 6-4 in Monday’s final. Siegemund will also be playing at the Billie Jean King Cup for Germany, but her team doesn’t play until Thursday. Storm Hunter, who lost in the doubles semifinals on Sunday, is also part of the Australian contingent.

In a report last week by The Athletic, it was revealed that several of the WTA’s top players, including Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina sent a letter to the WTA in October asking for various changes and voicing their frustrations on a range of issues. It’s hard to think the WTA Finals experience did much to ease any of the players’ long-term concerns. So what happens now? That might just be the biggest question entering the tennis offseason.

Here’s what else you might have missed from around the tennis world last week:

The Prince of Paris?

Novak Djokovic arrived at the Paris Masters dealing with a stomach virus, and having not played a competitive match since the Davis Cup in September. For virtually anyone else, that combination of rust and illness would likely eliminate them from contention for a title.

But Djokovic is not anyone else. As he’s proved time and time again, he is in a category all his own.

While he needed a deciding set in three of his matches during the week, Djokovic cruised in Sunday’s final, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3 for his seventh title at the 1000-level event.

“Incredible,” Djokovic said after the match, about his performance. “To be able to win it after quite challenging circumstances for me this week. Basically, coming back from the brink of losing three matches in a row, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I was very close to losing those matches and somehow managed to find an extra gear when it was needed.”

Djokovic’s current winning streak is now at 18 matches, and the 36-year-old hasn’t lost since the Wimbledon final in July. He will enter next week’s ATP Finals — where he’s a six-time champion — surging with momentum and with a sizable lead in the race for the year-end No. 1 ranking.

During the postmatch interview, Djokovic noticed Dimitrov, who had been looking for his first ATP title since 2017, sobbing in his chair, and Djokovic stopped his interview — without warning or hesitation — and went over to console his opponent.

Djokovic later had some kind words for Dimitrov during the trophy presentation.

“I’m sorry about the outcome today, Grigor,” Djokovic said. “It’s never easy to lose in a final. I want to encourage you to stay tough and keep going, because you’ve been playing some of your greatest tennis this week and in the last few months.”

More scheduling nightmares

It wasn’t just the WTA Finals that dealt with scheduling mishaps last week. While the Paris Masters was held indoors, late-night matches still wreaked havoc. Jannik Sinner’s second-round match against Mackenzie McDonald started after midnight on Thursday morning and finished at 2:37 a.m. Sinner won the match 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1, and he was then scheduled to play Alex de Minaur on Thursday afternoon in the third round.

With little time to sleep and recover, Sinner felt forced to withdraw from the event.

“I finished the match when it was almost three in the morning and didn’t go to bed until a few hours later,” Sinner wrote in Italian on social media. “I had less than 12 hours rest to prepare for the next game.”

He added he needed to “make the right decision for my health and my body” as he prepared for the ATP Finals and Davis Cup.

Sinner’s announcement was met by support from his peers, and several players criticized the ATP and tournament organizers. Casper Ruud called it “a joke,” and Stan Wawrinka said “the tournament doesn’t care.” Vasek Pospisil added “The ATP Tour has never cared about the players” and spoke of his own similar experience and the injury that resulted.

But the issue didn’t end there. Andrey Rublev finished his quarterfinal match against de Minaur just shy of 1 a.m. on Saturday morning and then had to face Djokovic in the semifinals later that day. Rublev, a member of the ATP’s player council, didn’t mask his frustrations during his on-court interview which ended with a sarcastic thumbs up to the camera.

“I don’t know when I’m going to go to sleep,” Rublev said. “4? 5? Crazy. Amazing schedule. Thank you.”

Jabeur’s tearful pledge

After Jabeur’s victory over Marketa Vondrousova during group play at the WTA Finals, she was emotional during her on-court interview and was unable to fight back tears as she spoke.

“I cannot be happy with just this win, with what’s happening,” Jabeur said. “I’m sorry guys, it’s supposed to be about tennis, but it’s very frustrating looking at videos every day.”

Jabeur, who is from Tunisia, pledged to give a portion of her prize money to “help the Palestinians.” She concluded with a simple message about her intent in speaking up.

“It is not a political message, it’s just humanity,” Jabeur said. “That’s it. I want peace in this world. That’s it.”

Jabeur didn’t advance to the semifinals after finishing with a 1-2 record in her group, but she still earned $296,000 from the week. She did not disclose exactly how much of that figure she will be donating.

Coaching change for Gauff

Less than two months after winning her first major title at the US Open, Gauff has parted ways with her coach Pere Riba. The two started working together in June — with Brad Gilbert coming on board soon after as a coaching consultant — and Gauff went on to have the best stretch of her career. The 19-year-old won the titles in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., in addition to New York, and improved to a new career-high ranking of No. 3.

“We did our best to keep our partnership going into the next year, but unfortunately, due to some personal and family health reasons on my side, I need to take a step back,” Riba wrote in an Instagram post.

Gauff added it was not her decision when speaking to the media in Cancun.

“If it was up to me, I would’ve loved to have him here,” Gauff said. “But things happen, life happens. No bad terms on our end.”

Gauff thanked Riba in the comments of his post. While she didn’t have a similar tribute dedicated to him, she did reflect on her 2023 season in a post of her own on Monday.

“[It’s] hard to sum [up] this season in a few words,” Gauff wrote. “I saw my darkest and brightest days of my life this year. I probably grew enough for [ten] lifetimes between January and now.”

Golden announcement

Reigning Olympic singles champion Belinda Bencic announced in an Instagram post on Friday that she was expecting her first child. The 26-year-old shared the news alongside photos of herself and longtime boyfriend Martin Hromkovic holding baby shoes.

“Expecting our little miracle soon,” Bencic wrote. “We can’t wait to meet you.”

Her news was met with dozens of congratulatory messages from her friends on tour, including Jabeur, Vondrousova, Paula Badosa, Donna Vekic and fellow moms Elina Svitolina and Naomi Broady. Bencic, who is currently ranked No. 14, is with the Swiss team this week in Seville as the squad attempts to defend its title.

Presuming Bencic plans to come back to tennis following maternity leave, she will join a growing list of mothers on tour. Naomi Osaka, who welcomed her first child over the summer and will be returning to competition in January, recently mentioned her hope for a group chat among all of the moms.


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