WTA not considering shortening schedule yet
0 
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has no intention of shortening its calendar of events, according to Fabrice Chouquet, the Asia-Pacific region's managing director of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
John McEnroe, a four-time US Open champion and now TV analyst, said at the Open that the WTA schedule should be scaled back because women players did not appear to be able to handle the physical and mental aspects of the game.
"At the moment, no," Chouquet told China Daily when asked if the WTA would look into McEnroe's suggestion.
"I don't think tennis is ready for that because it is a global sport. It has to be present in all continents and at all times of the year. The year has 52 weeks, we only use 45 or 46 of them. So, obviously making the season shorter might not be an option," he said.
Concerning the increasing number of injuries, one of which prevented home favorite Serena Williams from attending the US Open this year, McEnroe said those were part and parcel of the game and that most players were satisfied with the current schedule, which was put in place last year.
"Injuries are part of sport. I've rarely seen a player happy to withdraw from an event. It's always with sadness. This is part of tennis. We are humans, not machines," McEnroe said.
"One of the goals of the roadmap was to make the season shorter, to have a longer offseason, during which the players could rest and recover from the long year and also get ready for the start of the next one.
"We have achieved that. Players get a full two months, if not more, to get ready for the new season. Also, the flow of events during the year has been changed and modified so that it's healthier, more logical ... All this work has been done and it's very successful."
Since 2009, the WTA has significantly shortened its season. It trimmed the previous 25 Tier 1, 2 events to 20 premium tournaments, anchored by four mandatory events, and has also increased prize money and its greater geographical spread.
Chouquet said the governing body of women's tennis was always seeking improvement.
"With all the respect that I have for John McEnroe, I think we've done that work and we are satisfied with it," he said. "You always have ways to improve things and we work constantly with players, organizers and promoters to make little changes to make things better for everybody."
The WTA tour is enjoying prosperous development in China and signed its first local partner last week.
Last Friday, the WTA announced its first partnership with local sports brand Peak, which is now the official shoe and apparel partner of the tour in the Asia-Pacific region.
"That's a key milestone for our development and promotion of tennis in China because Peak has got a powerful network - 6,000 stores - in the country. It's also a nice brand with young and dynamic image," said Chouquet, who moved to Beijing to lead the WTA Asia-Pacific office in January.
"The WTA has always seen a great potential for the development of tennis in China. We think tennis is very welcome here and you obviously have Chinese tennis stars ... it's a great place to be to promote this sport," he said.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments