Down the line: Organisers must be wary of last-moment withdrawals

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  • Tired: Wawrinka withdrew from the Metz tournament citing fatigue.

    A few days ago, the organisers of the Metz ATP tournament slammed Stan Wawrinka for pulling out of the event two days before kick-off due to fatigue. They sent out an angry statement saying they “won’t take this lying down” adding: “He notified us simply by email that he would not be competing as he is fatigued. The directors are extremely disappointed and angry.”

    What did they want him to do? Send flowers?

    The week before, the Hong Kong tournament had a similar reaction to Eugenie Bouchard’s late withdrawal from their event.

    “To say she is tired and cannot turn up because she is fatigued is poor form. Bouchard and her manager asked for a top-10 bonus and after reaching the top 10 she did not honour her commitment,” said the tournament director.

    He also noted that all the tournament posters featured Bouchard and that they feel let down.

    Disappointment is a natural reaction when a star player pulls out of tournaments, but calling them out like that in public only makes one seem unprofessional.

    And also makes it very doubtful that those players will ever consider coming back to the tournament.

    This isn’t like when Serena Williams pulled out of Dubai last year – which I criticised her for. She had come to Dubai, did press, told everyone she was feeling great and ready to win the title, then did a complete U-turn the next day and withdrew moments before her opening match against Marion Bartoli.

    That was just blatant lying and potentially a ploy to get her appearance fees.

    But what Wawrinka and Bouchard did was normal and common behaviour expected from exhausted athletes who are approaching the final stretch of a gruelling season.

    Knowing how to deal with 11th-hour withdrawals should be a given for all tournament directors and if they feel there was any legal wrongdoing, they should handle it behind closed doors with the players’ agents.

    Feel-good story of the week

    Mirjana Lucic-Baroni

    Back in 1997, a 15-year-old unranked Croat, Lucic-Baroni made a stunning run at the Croatian Open – her first ever WTA event – to win the title. She won the title again the following year and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1999. She then went from teen prodigy to obscurity (due to family problems, financial and health woes) and only now, as a 32-year-old, is she finding her winning ways. After making the fourth round at the US Open this month, she beat Venus Williams to win the title in Quebec City. You can’t make this stuff up!

    Stats of the week

    16

    Lucic-Baroni now holds the record for the longest gap between titles in WTA history. Her title in Quebec comes 16 years and four months after her previous trophy-winning run at the Croatian Open in 1998. The previous mark was held by Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm, who had 13 years and one month between her trophies in 1996 at San Diego and in 2009 at Seoul.

    18

    Spain’s 18-year stay in the Davis Cup World Group came to an end as they lost their first clay tie since 1999 by losing to Brazil in the playoffs. That’s what happens when Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco turn their backs on their national team.

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