Talk About Tennis 2.0

Team Europe please.

I still give Europe the lead, but it does look more competitive.

I don't think it looks any more competitive. I expect it to be less competitive than last time, which was the closest it's been. Dropping Roger, Rafa, and Novak's names loses cachet, but I don't see this as more competitive.

WTA Luxembourg Open Axed Over Disagreements Between Tour And Organisers
One of Europe’s most well known indoor women’s events has come to an end with the tournament director criticising the management of the WTA.
Published 1 day ago on 19/09/2021By Adam Addicott

Just minutes after Clara Tauson defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to win the Luxembourg Open, organisers put out a social media post confirming the WTA 250 event will be scrapped.

In an unexpected move the tournament director has accused the WTA of making organisers of her event feel ‘uncomfortable’ with their rules that has prevented them from running the event how they would have liked to. Danielle Maas has revealled to newspaper Tageblatt that their decision to permanently end the tournament was made before the start of this year’s draw. Ending what has been a 25-year stint as a WTA event which has been won by players such as Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka, Venus Williams and Caroline Woniacki.

“We will no longer organize a WTA tournament. That’s a big change. But we no longer feel comfortable working with the WTA. The quality of the tournament as we imagine it, the family aspect and everything around it is no longer given. That’s why we made the decision to quit WTA after 25 years. We are happy to close this chapter, which gave us no more joy,” said Maas.

According to Maas, the breakdown in their partnership with the WTA is linked to rules which limits their goal of being a tournament which stands for ‘family values, closeness to the players and a good atmosphere.’ It is claimed that a Gala last Sunday, marking the 25th anniversary of the tournament, wasn’t attended by any representative from the governing body of women’s tennis and players were banned from going. It is unclear as to why the players weren’t allowed to attend.

“It took a lot of nerve to organize this week the way the WTA wanted. Working together was very difficult. The rules of the WTA and their approach have changed a lot since 2019,” Maas commented.
“This (the Gala) shows that there was no longer any great enthusiasm from her side (the WTA) to continue working with us.”
“The WTA chapter now closes. For us, however, it does not close with one laughing and one crying eye, but only with one laughing eye. We’ll close this door, but we’ll open a new one next year.”

Organizers are now planning to stage an exhibition-style event next year which will likely take place in October. Details about how this will work with the WTA Tour also taking place at the same time are unclear. However, it has been confirmed that a partner of the Luxemberg Open, global marketing and entertainment company OCTAGON INC, has agreed to continue their collaboration for another two years.

In the final of this year’s Luxembourg Open, Tauson became the seventh player this season to win multiple titles on the women’s Tour after also previously triumphing in Chicago. She is one of four players born in 2002 that are currently ranked in the world’s top 100. As a result of her latest win, she is set to rise to a ranking high of 52nd on Monday.

There has been no public comment from the WTA in response to Maas’ comments.

https://www.ubitennis.net/2021/09/wta-l ... rganisers/

A fan calling themselves "coolfish 1103" made this point re what could be behind the tournament's decision:

WTA moving Luxembourg to the lone September from 2020 (it wasn't held) also made no sense. There are no European events behind it to back it up. WTA is essentially trying to kill Luxembourg. If it weren't COVID, Luxembourg probably wouldn't have a representable field this week cause most players will be heading for Asia. The 2021 schedule kind of reminds us the pre-road map tour schedule (except only one event this week in Ostrava), where the events are most located in the same place and the season is not cut in short (8 weeks in between USO and Finals with a balanced schedule rather than 6-7 with 3 events in many weeks).

2008
USO
Bali
Tokyo/Guangzhou
Beijing/Seoul
Stuttgart/Tokyo/Tashkent
Moscow
Zurich
Linz/Luxembourg
Quebec
Doha

2010
USO
Guangzhou/Quebec
Seoul/Tashkent
Tokyo
Beijing
Linz/Osaka
Moscow/Luxembourg
Doha

2019
USO
Zhengzhou/Hiroshima/Nanchang
Osaka/Guangzhou/Seoul
Wuhan/Tashkent
Beijing
Linz/Tianjin (Hong Kong was scheduled but cancelled)
Moscow/Luxembourg
Zhuhai
Shenzhen

2021
USO
Luxembourg/Portoroz
Ostrava
Chicago/Astana
Indian Wells
Indian Wells (Linz originally scheduled here)
Moscow/Tenerife
Courmayeur/Cluj-Napoca
Fed Cup
Guadalajara/Linz

Since there's no thread for it, I'm putting this here.

ATP has been updating the Next Gen qualifiers the same way they have been with the ATP Finals.

1. Sinner
2. Auger-Aliassime
3. Alcaraz
4. Korda
5. Brooksby
6. Musetti
7. Empty (JM Cerundolo right now)
8. Empty (Nakashima right now)

Spots #5 and #6 were secured this week.

Sinner is certainly not playing this one. Even if he does not qualify for the big YEC.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:00 am Sinner is certainly not playing this one. Even if he does not qualify for the big YEC.

I'm curious. Why do you think that?

I know he qualifies as Next Gen, but he has won it before, and he is past that. It is a nice exo for newcomers, and he is no longer at that level.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:56 pm I know he qualifies as Next Gen, but he has won it before, and he is past that. It is a nice exo for newcomers, and he is no longer at that level.

Gotcha. Are you thinking FAA won't participate either?

I could see Sinner participating based on the location if he misses out on the ATP Finals (but think he's in so we won't find out).

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:48 pm

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:56 pm I know he qualifies as Next Gen, but he has won it before, and he is past that. It is a nice exo for newcomers, and he is no longer at that level.

Gotcha. Are you thinking FAA won't participate either?

...

Didn't think about it but yes, there is really nothing there for him. They are sort of in the same boat.

So either he's vaxxed or will be soon.

Kevin