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Elena Rybakina slammed the WTA Finals organization after having just one practice on the court before her opening match. When Rybakina and other WTA Finals participants arrived in Cancun earlier in the week, the stadium was still in the process of being built.
On Saturday - the day before the start of the WTA Finals - Rybakina had her first hit on the court. "Well, it's surprising to me that we didn't get a chance yet to practice. I think that's the only day now. I'm going to get the first hit in the evening.
Tomorrow I have to play the match, so this is a bit disappointing. But it is what it is. I guess we're going to try to do our best to show good tennis, which is not going to be I think that easy with such windy conditions. But overall, I mean, Mexico is really nice.
Yeah, I think we just try to do our best here," Rybakina said.
Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka & Iga Swiatek on the organization
Sabalenka, ranked at No 1, agreed with Rybakina as the Belarusian said that "this is not the level for the WTA Finals." On the other side, four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek acknowledged the situation is not perfect but refused to harshly criticize the organization. “Today I had the chance to practice on the centre court for like 45 minutes for the first time.
It’s a little bit different than the practice courts. I guess to perform well here, you just have to kind of not care of everything that is going on around, just really focus on playing the best tennis possible," Swiatek said.
Meanwhile, 24-year-old Rybakina is set for her WTA Finals debut. Last year, Rybakina would have made the WTA Finals had her 2,000 Wimbledon win points counted. It remains to be seen how well can Rybakina do in her WTA Finals debut.