WTA Players Council Didn’t Make an Exception For Radwanska

Written by: Staff on 17th January 2013

WTA Players Council Didn't Make an Exception For Radwanska

epa03060141 Shadow of Andy Murray of Great Britain in action during a practice session ahead of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 15 January 2012. The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year, will begin on 16 January. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

The WTA Players’ Council was almost unanimous in its denial of world No. 4 and top Pole Agnieszka Radwanska’s request to play the new clay court tournament in Poland, the BNP Paribas Katowice Open, because she missed the deadline by a day and also asked to be play two International Series tournaments in the first six months of the year, Daily Tennis has learned

Players were mandated to hand their 2013 schedules or request changes by November 15, but according to sources, Radwanska did not hand in her request until November 16.

The WTA Players Council was asked by the executive board to review the matter and the Players’ Council turned her down as they felt that if they made an exception for her that it would open the flood gates to other late requests.

The WTA Players Council consists of Serena Williams, Samantha Stosur, Francesca Schiavone, Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova, Andrea Hlavackova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Akgul Amanmuradova .

Top-10 players such as Radwanska are only allowed to play two lower-level International Series tournaments season, one in the first half of the year and one in the second, and the 23-year-old Radwanska had already scheduled in the Auckland tournament when she made her calendar nearly a year ago. She was said to have been paid a healthy appearance fee to play there.

Radwanska said that she only heard about the April 8-14 tournament in Poland becoming official in early November, well after she had made her 2013 schedule. The tournament was moved from Copenhagen as it was financially in trouble.

However, sources say that she knew about the new tournament’s existence two weeks before the schedule deadline.

Some Players’ Council members were upset that the WTA administration did not inform them until the last minute that the tournament in Copenhagen was in trouble and might be moved to Poland, because then they might have been able to anticipate Radwanska’s request and ask her to put it in earlier.

There are also players who don’t understand why they have to make their entire annual schedule so far in advance and have asked the WTA to consider letting them plan the first six months of the year first in order to allow tournaments time enough to promote them, and then be given another month to decide on where they will play during the last six months of the season.

The WTA will consider allowing top 10 players to add another International Series tournament to their schedule in 2015.

Not only will Radwanska be unable to play, but world No. 5 Angelique Kerber, who is also of Polish extraction, won’t compete there as she is signed up to play in the tournament in Monterey, Mexico, which has switched to clay courts and begins the first week of April.

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: Akgul Amanmuradova, Andrea Hlavackova, BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, Caroline Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone, Lucie Safarova, Samantha Stosur, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis News, Wta