After Sabalenka took a shot at the WTA for letting them play on an “unsafe court,” Elena Rybakina joined in, adding fuel to the fire by claiming that the players are unable to demonstrate their full potential on court due to “tough” conditions.
Rybakina’s statement via The Tennis Letter: “As I said, I think it’s far from being the best tennis. I feel like the quality from all of us is not the greatest. You can see it by the unforced errors. Some players are struggling more. Some are maybe adjusting a bit better … I think the conditions are tough. I don’t feel like I can show everything I have on the court. You’re kind of limited with the things you can do with such conditions.”
She also added that it especially becomes stressful when it comes to a rally as they cannot predict how the ball is going to bounce.
“I feel like if you have a tight game on your serve, you can be stressed with a rally when you don’t know how the ball is going to bounce. You don’t know what to expect. Not much is under your control. I think this is the main thing & how I see it. If you try to create the rally & try to be aggressive & be dominant in the point, it doesn’t mean you’re going to win it. As I said, I don’t feel like the quality of tennis is really good. But again, I feel it’s not by our problems or like we don’t know how to play. It’s just tough.”
Elena Rybakina says the quality of tennis at WTA Finals has not been the greatest, but it’s not because they don’t know how to play:
“As I said, I think it’s far from being the best tennis. I feel like the quality from all of us is not the greatest. You can see it by the… pic.twitter.com/jAdgn3YtAQ
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 1, 2023
After Sabalenka, players slowly lose faith in WTA
As days go by, it’s becoming more and more evident that the WTA is slowly losing the faith of their players.
Earlier this year, there were numerous reports that the organization was in the process of making Saudi Arabia the host of the finals. Unfortunately, some players weren’t happy with their selection as the country is currently under fire for female and LGBTQ discrimination, which goes against their very ideals.
That said, the organization opted for another place, which is Cancun, Mexico. And all would have been well had they not announced it late and built the $6 million court hastily.
As Sabalenka first revealed, the girls were only able to practice on the court just one day before the event started. As a result, this made it harder for them to adjust and predict how the ball would bounce against the newly built court.
The unpredictability, in addition to the players not being able to establish a solid footing, was said to be the primary factor as to why the scores so far in the matches had large disparities, starting with Sakkari’s defeat 6-0,6-1. It is almost as if to say that if a player can’t adapt quickly to the court conditions, then her defeat is imminent.
Sadly, the girls would have to find a way to navigate through this challenge as the WTA finals aren’t going anywhere.
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