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Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs recently slammed the handling of the 2023 WTA Finals.
The prestigious tournament held in Cancun, Mexico, turned out to be a controversial and chaotic affair, marred by poor weather conditions, subpar court quality, scheduling issues, and injuries.
In a recent episode of 'The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast', Stubbs said that the tournament was a "slow-motion train wreck", expressing her frustration and disappointment with the way the event was handled.
"It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to say that we had highlighted a number of the issues, particularly on the WTA tour. The truth is this was a slow-motion train wreck," Stubbs said.
The 52-year-old criticized the WTA for not providing the players with adequate facilities and preparation time, pointing out that the Top 8 did not get to practice on the main court until the day of the first match.
"When you have a certain amount of matches and a lot of them back-to-back-to-back to back every day, you better make sure that you get those matches done that day. The fact that they built that court, and the literal players of the WTA finals didn't get to hit on the main court at all until the day of the first match is absolutely f**king ridiculous," Stubbs added.
The Aussie also said that the court was coming apart in the last couple of days and that the players had to deal with wind and rain that affected the quality of the matches.
"The court was coming apart in the last couple of days, they were sanding down holes in the court. Know that the court's going to be perfect because you're going to have rain you're going to have wind. You're going to have all this, so all the the stuff underneath the court doesn't lay properly because if you've ever made a tennis court, it's very scientific," added Stubbs.
"When your CEO makes more than the marketing budget does, you better hope that this product markets itself" - Renne Stubbs on WTA Finals fiasco
Rennae Stubbs did not hold back her criticism of the WTA leadership, especially CEO Steve Simon, after the year-end championships ended on Monday, November 6. Highlighting that the event's marketing budget is lower than Simon's annual pay, Stubbs suggested that the WTA Finals was bound to fail at capitalizing on the opportunity to promote the best players in the world.
"Steve Simon gets paid $1.3 million dollars a year, not including bonuses, I’m sure that doesn’t include his expenses, etc. The marketing budget is just a little over a million dollars. When your CEO makes more than the marketing budget does, you better hope that this product markets itself, which as we know with only eight weeks, it cannot," Stubbs said.
The WTA Finals in Cancun was won by Iga Swiatek, who defeated Jessica Pegula in the final in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. The Pole regained the World No. 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka, who lost to Swiatek in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-2.
