WTA 1000 Dubai 2/19 - 2/27 2023

[Deuce]

These withdrawals and retirements are ridiculous. Three (at least) high profile withdrawals in the past week - Bencic, Rybakina, Pliskova. Players no longer have any integrity - it's pathetic.

It's amazing how players view every scheduled match as being optional!
The flippant withdrawals and retirements are disgusting.
There is way too much money in the game, and that ruins everything on several levels. "I'm rich, I'm famous, so I can play only if I want to - if I feel only 98%, I'll take it easy and rest while looking at my lovely bank account numbers and not give a damn about the fans, my opponents, the tournament, or the sport looking bad."

[Deuce]

Nice to see Muchova doing well after the injuries - she's one of the most enjoyable players to watch with her all-court game.
I don't feel that fatigue is a legitimate excuse this time for Bencic - that was last week's excuse. Unless she has some kind of virus.
She's only 25 years old, and should be able to withstand the physical demands of her chosen sport within reason.

[JTContinental]

It sounds like Pliskova has a cold, so I think she gets a pass for pulling out in the middle of a tournament

[ashkor87]

The monster is devouring the game itself, if this goes on! Someone needs to step up, I hope Sabalenka or Rybakina can...Rybakina has already pulled out...

[ashkor87]

Swiatek has become a monster...

baking Samsonova (my term for a scoreline of only bagels and/or breadsticks) is absolutely monstrous.

Unexpected scoreline for Bencic, going out 1 and 4 to Muchova. Keys easily over Vika is suprising, too, unless Vika was tired from her long match vs Anisimova.

So far Samsonova not doing any better vs Swiatek than Fernandez managed.

Going on memory, Samsonova was one of the only players to give Swiatek a good match last spring - one of the finals on clay, maybe Stuttgard? So I expected more of a challenge from her.

Samsonova may not have liked this court either, note what vekic did to her at the AO..we will have to wait to see what Saba can do..

[ponchi101]

Ok. Only two instances of people pulling out BEFORE playing Iga. Last week's by Bencic, this week by Plis. So, a small sample. Let's not jump to conclusions.
HOWEVER. Indeed, this would be a pathetic trend. We can remember the times in which everybody that went out against, for example, Roger/Rafa (on clay)/Steffi/Serena/Martina, knew they had the chance of a cat with a broken leg against a rottweiler. But they did go out, and they played the entire match. If now they will pack it before even taking the court, that's a new low.
Right now, it is a WTA problem, but let's not forget that Rune pulled a surprise retirement last week, and the infamous Musetti affair at RG two years ago. So, the PTB have to at the very least address the possibility that players are pulling out for no other reason than "I can't win".

[Deuce]

Samsonova may not have liked this court either, note what vekic did to her at the AO..we will have to wait to see what Saba can do..

But... but... Swiatek isn't supposed to like this court, either, as she only likes slow courts, remember?

She seems to be doing more than fine on this faster court, though - so there goes yet another theory out the window...

The fact is that these players are world class on all surfaces. Some might be slightly better on one surface than on another - but the differences aren't huge.
The biggest issue, I feel, is transitioning from a fast surface to a slow surface (or vice versa) within a short amount of time. But differences in the speeds of two hard court tournaments certainly aren't radical.

Borg was a master of transitioning, winning Roland Garros on the slow clay, and then winning Wimbledon on the fast grass just 2 weeks later - and he won these two tournaments back-to-back 3 times. He would probably say that all this talk about court speed is overblown hogwash.

[Deuce]

Ok. Only two instances of people pulling out BEFORE playing Iga. Last week's by Bencic, this week by Plis. So, a small sample. Let's not jump to conclusions.
HOWEVER. Indeed, this would be a pathetic trend. We can remember the times in which everybody that went out against, for example, Roger/Rafa (on clay)/Steffi/Serena/Martina, knew they had the chance of a cat with a broken leg against a rottweiler. But they did go out, and they played the entire match. If now they will pack it before even taking the court, that's a new low.
Right now, it is a WTA problem, but let's not forget that Rune pulled a surprise retirement last week, and the infamous Musetti affair at RG two years ago. So, the PTB have to at the very least address the possibility that players are pulling out for no other reason than "I can't win".

Yes... but I'd say that it's more like "I can't win, and I already have enough money to live the rest of my life in complete comfort, so what the hell, I'll take the easy way out."
Money corrupts everything.

[ashkor87]

Iga the monster is one more reason why we need a variety of court surfaces and playing styles

[Owendonovan]

....LET me also add, and to be clear- Bencic is not gonna happen. (Slam-wise, at least.) The gold medal was punishment enough for true tennis fans.

....Same for Garcia- and I actually like Garcia. Albeit, I must add that two Slam doubles titles= nothing to sneeze at.

Though not popular, I kinda feel the same way about Coco.

[JazzNU]

It sounds like Pliskova has a cold, so I think she gets a pass for pulling out in the middle of a tournament

Hopefully she's okay soon. And let us hope this virus isn't spreading through the locker room. I can't remember what year, maybe 2019, but a virus spread like wildfire and people were forced to pull out of this or Doha and then appearances at Indian Wells were in doubt because the virus had migrated there. The men are there too obviously, so let's hope this is more isolated.

[Suliso]

Good win for Gauff, but I'll be very surprised if she can seriously trouble Swiatek tomorrow (h2h 5:0, all in straight sets).

[ashkor87]

nice win for Coco over Keys - Keys has been playing well. Now she is the next morsel for the monster, that is the only problem.. i dont think she has what it takes.. Sabalenka may have, but not Coco. But good for her nonetheless!

[ponchi101]

It is one match in which Coco has to forfeit her second serve. It will make no difference if she hits 10 DF's, but better that than Iga returning her second serve for clean winners.
I do give her a slight chance (SLIGHT!) simply because all players are bound to have a bad day, sooner or later. If Coco has a good day, and Iga a bad one, it could be interesting.
I don't think so, but just maybe.

[mick1303]

These withdrawals and retirements are ridiculous. Three (at least) high profile withdrawals in the past week - Bencic, Rybakina, Pliskova. Players no longer have any integrity - it's pathetic.

It's amazing how players view every scheduled match as being optional!
The flippant withdrawals and retirements are disgusting.
There is way too much money in the game, and that ruins everything on several levels. "I'm rich, I'm famous, so I can play only if I want to - if I feel only 98%, I'll take it easy and rest while looking at my lovely bank account numbers and not give a damn about the fans, my opponents, the tournament, or the sport looking bad."

Highly celebrated Serena gave 19 walkovers to her opponents. Out of the total of 172 losses it computes to 11%. I did not do a complete study but that seems to be a record percentage. I'm wondering if you were so harsh on her like you do now on these players.

Rybakina had until now 3 walkover losses out of 71 (4.2%). Pliskova has 208 losses and I did not find any walkover until now. This will be the first. Bencic has 158 losses of which there was only one walkover. It is less than 1%.

This rant about modern players being corrupted by money comparing to the previous generation seems to be missing the mark quite a bit.