“Hopefully, we’re gonna see a full house soon” - Swiatek missing energy of the crowd in Fort Worth
Crowd numbers for the WTA Finals have been desperately low this year, with fans and players alike taking note of the poor turnout.
The season-ending showpiece of the WTA Tour is taking place in Fort Worth, Texas. This year's location was only decided upon in September, which some point to as a reason for low attendance. However, this was also the case for the 2021 edition of the event in Guadalajara, which was a huge success and very well attended.
Others have pointed to the location itself as the issue, while some (WTA doubles extraordinaire Pam Shriver for one) has highlighted the fact that the opening day of the tournament coincided with Halloween, one of the biggest holidays in the US. This, on top of the fact that it came on the same day as NFL Monday Night Football and the World Series, in which a Texas team is participating.
Whatever the case, it has not gone unnoticed. While journalists and fans were the loudest voices of indignation following the opening day's dearth of attendance, the second day of the tournament has seen World No. 1 Iga Swiatek acknowledge the issue.
“Hopefully, we’re gonna see a full house soon,” she said after winning her opening match against Daria Kasatkina.
“But yeah, we’ll see,” she added. “I’m really looking forward to it because I like taking energy from the crowd.”
The three-time Grand Slam champion has spoken frequently about how much she thrives of a crowd, despite winning her breakthrough major in a near-empty Philippe Chatrier in a pandemic-era French Open.
Some are predicting that crowd numbers will increase as the week goes on. This may prove true, but expect the deafening silence of a cavernous empty stadium to get only louder with each day that passes if this proves not to be the case.
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