Sabalenka, Jabeur lead criticism of Cancun stadium preparations ahead of WTA Finals

Players were only been able to practice on the main court for a short time, one day before the Finals begin

Chryslene Caillaud/Panoramic

October 28, 2023

The WTA Finals are meant to be the pinnacle of the year for the WTA Tour, a season-ending finale where the best players go head to head in the best conditions.

But while the eight-woman field for this year’s event, which begins in Cancun, Mexico, on Sunday, is stellar, the players have barely been able to practice on the Centre Court ahead of their opening matches, due to the last-minute construction of the arena.

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— Professional Tennis Players Association (@ptpaplayers) October 27, 2023

“I’m not happy that we couldn’t practice on the match court, meaning like on the stadium,” world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka told reporters. “I think this is not the level for the WTA Finals. We literally have one hour today, like 45 minutes, to try the stadium. This is something what I’m not happy with. I’m pretty sure the rest of the players also not happy.

“At the same time, yes, I know we’re all in the same conditions. But this is not conditions for the WTA Finals. So it’s not great. I mean, usually we need like three to four days to kind of like adjust to conditions. But we’ll see. I guess it is how it is. But I hope that next year WTA will do better job.”

Jabeur: “Hopefully this will never happen again, like ever”

Ons Jabeur tried to be polite about the situation but was equally candid.

“I mean, obviously as a player, I wish that the stadium was ready couple of days before in order to have a better preparation and everything,” she said.

“I don’t want to take the effort that the construction team had done for the past six weeks, I guess. I know they done a lot of hard work. I want to thank them for that.

“I’m not very happy that this is the first day we hit on the stadium. This is such a big event. We should have been able to be ready and hit on the court. Hopefully this will never, ever, ever happen again. Like ever…”

Rybakina also unsettled by situation

World No 4 Elena Rybakina, too, had wanted to have more practice time on the main court.

“It’s surprised me that we didn’t get a chance yet to practice,” the former Wimbledon champion said. “I think that’s the only day now. I’m going to get the first hit in the evening. Tomorrow I have to play the match, so this is a bit disappointing.

“But it is what it is. I guess we’re going to try to do our best to show good tennis, which is not going to be I think that easy with such a windy conditions. But overall, I mean, Mexico is really nice. Yeah, I think we just try to do our best here.”

World No 2 Iga Swiatek said the players would just have to focus on what they control, not worrying about conditions of the court or the wind that has made practise difficult for everyone.

“Today I had the chance to practice on the centre court for like 45 minutes for the first time,” she said. “It’s a little bit different than the practice courts.

“I guess to perform well here, you just have to kind of not care of everything that is going on around, just really focus on playing the best tennis possible.”