The 2023 Guadalajara Open will likely be the weakest WTA 1000 event in terms of the draw; however, it's not the event's fault, according to Jelena Ostapenko, who shifted blame to the WTA.
Guadalajara, as an event, has only gotten great reviews from players who praised the atmosphere and the organization of the tournament in Mexico. After all, they didn't host the WTA Finals for nothing. You'd find it hard to find a player who has anything bad to say about the event itself, but the timing of it isn't great.
Coming only a week after the US Open made it very difficult for many players to commit to it, and we saw players like Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, the most recent Grand Slam champion, Coco Gauff, and many others withdraw. The list of withdrawals is too long, as fans expressed worry on social media about the weak entry list.
Players are fully aware of it as well and Jelena Ostapenko was asked about it during her pre-event press conference. She repeated what several said - it's not the event, it's the schedule.
I mean, it is what it is. Of course it's a nice tournament, but the scheduling this year is not very good for the players. But, yeah, it's a nice tournament. There is nothing to do with the tournament, it's just the way the WTA is doing scheduling.
Even with the weaker field, the event is obviously going to go ahead. We have some really big names in the draw, such as Ons Jabeur, who is the number one seed. There are three players ranked inside the Top 10 and nine from the Top 20.
It's not as strong as your typical WTA 1000 event, but it's also not the disaster that many made it out to be.
0 Comments