Andy Roddick defended the Miami Open organizers, handing Simona Halep a wild card after Caroline Wozniacki came out against it.
There was some minor drama at the Miami Open this week after Wozniacki voiced her opinion on Halep's Miami Open wild card. The Danish player expressed her opinion that players who doped shouldn't be given wild cards, which the Romanian obviously didn't like.
Wozniacki did qualify her statement by saying that her opinion wasn't about Halep specifically but more general; however, the Romanian player had a clear response to her colleague.
Even though she was suspended, Halep dismisses claims that she doped because she did it unknowingly. In his most recent episode of the Served with Roddick podcast, the former number one disagreed with Wozniacki's assertion because, to him, the tournament's decision is clearly based on the business side of the tournament.
Events operate as businesses to turn a profit, so from that point of view, giving Halep a wild card was an ideal decision.
"She was very cautious when she said it, but basically she doesn’t believe people who have doped should be back and be given wild card. Halep didn’t like it."
"She got defensive and said she’s not a cheater, she didn’t dope. You can tell that she was bothered. It’s a business, and you want [Halep] as a storyline."
Roddick made a fair point because in the world of making money, what is fair matters very little. The event saw an opportunity and took it. The merit of their decision can be debatable, as well as the merit of Wozniacki's stance, but from a purely business point of view, it was the right decision.
Some fans or even players might not like it, but there are many other controversial decisions made that don't benefit the players, and whether a player deserves a wild card or not stays subjective.
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