ITF to Pay Hopman Cup Player Fines – Caroline Wozniaki, Li Na, Petra Kvitova

Written by: Staff on 21st December 2011

ITF to Pay Hopman Cup Player Fines - Caroline Wozniaki, Li Na, Petra Kvitova

YEARENDER 2011 OCTOBER
Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic reacts during her final match against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at the WTA Championships tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, 30 October 2011. Kvitova won the tournament. EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU |

The Hopman Cup and the ITF have agreed to pay WTA player fines somewhere in the range of $375,000 for its participants in the 2012 tournament.

With the upgrading of the WTA Brisbane tournament to a Premier level, exemptions are no longer granted to players to participate in exhibitions during the same week, which for all intents and purposes eliminated the Hong Kong exhibition, and forced the Hopman Cup – which is owned in part by the ITF – to decide whether or not it wanted to shell out both substantial guarantees and cover the player fines (which the players were not willing to do).

Apparently the tournament is in healthy enough shape to put up what is believed to be at least $1 million in appearance fees and guarantees.

The ITF confirmed to Daily Tennis that “There is an agreement in place between the ITF and WTA with regard to player participation in the Hopman Cup, which is in full compliance with the WTA Rules in relation to non-Tour events.”

The fines are tiered based on ranking. The tournament will have to pay $100,000 a piece for No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 2 Petra Kvitova, $75,000 for No. 5 Li Na, and various fines for Marion Bartoli, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Anabel Medina and Tsvetana Pironkova.

Topics: Anabel Medina, BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, Caroline Wozniacki, Li Na, Marion Bartoli, Petra Kvitova, Tsvetana Pironkova