.
The final matches of the second round go, the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 7 seeds are in action and you almost have to think that the winner of the tournament will come from them.
The first match up between Kontaveit and Siegemund should be feisty.
Singles, second round
[1] Petra Martic (CRO) def. [Q] Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) 57 64 62
[4] Anett Kontaveit (EST) def Laura Siegemund (GER) 36 62 62
[7] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) def. [LL] Océane Dodin (FRA) 62 64
Camila Giorgi (ITA) def. [Q] Kaja Juvan (SLO) 36 62 64
Doubles, quarterfinals
Elisabetta Cocciaretto / Martina Trevisan (ITA) def [1] Georgina Garcia Perez / Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 63 26 [10-5]
Arantxa Rus (NED) / Tamara Zidansek (SLO) def Giulia Gatto-Monticone / Jasmine Paolini (ITA) 75 61
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Okay… Palermo is continuing and that is really nice to see. The organizers of Palermo sweat blood to make this tournament happen. They are going to take a severe financial hit. Why did they push on to make this event happen? The tournament director and the organizers love the game and want to prove to the world they can make it work with crowds. And they are doing it. Now we have a problem. Halep, Ostapenko, Konta… the top players don’t seem to give a damn about the importance of the success of this event to get Pro tennis back to normal. I have about 50 tennis sites bookmarked, and I browse through a lot of them daily. Do you think I have ever found a statement like ” yeah I am really excited about the return of WTA tennis and I am going to support the tournaments and do everything in my power to help the pro women’s game”. A statement like this from Barty, Svitolina, Halep, Andreescu, Konta, and Osaka?? NO
And while we are on the subject, Andreescu is the WORST. No effort to keep her fans up to date, no effort to play Charlston or WTT or anything, not even Cincinnati. If she even shows up at the US Open I will be surprised.
Yet another opinion out of nowhere, dude. I assume you know the Palermo people to “know” what their motivation was.
Okay, you got me. I don’t personally know the tournament director or the executive. I don’t even know a soul on the entire island.
But I do know that the number one and the number two players in the world are totally letting the WTA, their sister players and the few tournaments that are fighting to keep running down. Halep is the biggest name in Europe and was personally assured by the Italian government there would be no problem with her travels. In the Navratilova/Evert era, those two knew that at least one of them had to show at all the big tournaments, or the tour would hemorrhage, so they did it, playing a heavy schedule when they might not have wanted to. Barty, Svitolina, Andreescu and Osaka don’t seem to think it is important to support the few remaining tournaments that are trying to make it happen.
That’s what the tournament claimed, re Halep. It all seemed fairly nebulous. And of course there was also the matter of timing. And the problem of the travel itself.
But you know what? These are independent contractors. If they don’t look out for themselves individually, no one else is going to give a crap about them if they need help.Including the WTA.
It is no longer the Evert/Navratilova era. That was … 40 years ago. The stakes are completely different.
If the bring team members with them, and there’s a positive test, they’re on the hook for literally thousands to house them etc. while they isolate.
And if they catch it, and are out for awhile and potentially suffer career-threatning issues with the heart and lungs – is the WTA going to compensate them for all the lost income? The answer is no. They even have to sign a waiver to that effect.
To judge other peoples’ decisions from the couch is … well, everyone is allowed to do it. Doesn’t mean it has value.
Okay, all valid points. Thank you for putting in the effort to reply. In point of fact, first round prize money is up at the US Open; so on the odd chance that someone gets sick, that could be mitigated. Anyway, I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I still say the top women are not doing enough to support the game. And the reporting I see is mostly the players wining about the restrictions, the lousy hotel conditions and my god the limits on their “teams”. Go USTA!!! Go USOpen!!! Go opencourt!!!!
Four years ago I was covering tennis in Rio. And I remember that a whole bunch of whiny MEN (golfers too) decided to pass on playing the Olympics for fear of the Zika virus (even though, as none of them were planning to get pregnant, by far the biggest risk factor was not an issue for them). (Most of the women went). This is exponentially more scary, so I’m not judging anyone for doing what they feel is best for themselves in these circumstances.
Just because the people whining about the restrictions are getting more bandwidth doesn’t mean it’s generalized. I think, like, TWO players complained about the limits.