Jackpot for women lost among protests and exits
Despite the $14 m purse at the WTA Finals, cashing in on China’s wealth comes at a high price, writes Molly Mcelwee
f the Women’s I Tennis Association had had its way, its last tournament of the year would have had one headline dominating: the recordbreaking prize money. But instead, competing narratives on the misguided choice of staging the tour’s grand finale in Shenzhen, China, and injuryplagued action have taken a starring role.
Eye-popping sums are up for grabs at the WTA Finals, where the top eight singles players are battling it out this week. A potential $4.7 million (£3.6 million) is on the line for the champion if she finishes the roundrobin event undefeated. Elina Svitolina remains the only player still on track for the maximum outcome should she win her semi-final today. But even if the eventual victor accumulates a couple of losses, the minimum jackpot will still make them
$4.1 million richer.
That is more than the record of $3.8 million that US Open champions Bianca Andreescu and Rafael Nadal each won in September, and the maximum $2.7million the men’s ATP Finals winner could make in London later this month.
It is a landmark moment for the women’s tour, which has a history rooted in the equal-pay fight led by Billie Jean King nearly 50 years ago. But despite the WTA’S best efforts to guide attention towards its mind-blowing $14 million purse, two other central plot lines have emerged.
The first was the new venue for the culmination of the season: Shenzhen. Months of antigovernment protests in Hong Kong have shone a light on China’s poor democratic record, and sport’s part has come under the microscope over the past few weeks.
The NBA most recently struggled to bat away controversy after its failure to keep up its appearance as a progressive organisation by initially distancing itself from a tweet posted by the Houston Rockets’ general manager which supported the Hong Kong protests. With the billions of dollars the Chinese market offers at stake, the league momentarily removed its free-speech-loving mask to reveal that money does talk.
As a bordering Chinese city with Hong Kong, Shenzhen is probably the worst place possible to stage the WTA’S event of the year. Though a protest backdrop could not have been wholly foreseen, it is also the risk the WTA runs in getting into bed with China, choosing it as its centre for rapid growth, with nine tournaments now held in the country – more than the United States.
Alongside the moral questions circling the women’s tour, the action on the court has not been much to shout about either. After an exciting first couple of days of thrilling three-setters, the tennis has fizzled out as three players pulled out through injury in as many days.
The heavy annual scheduling for tennis pros caught up with two of the top-draw players, as Naomi Osaka and Andreescu retired with shoulder and knee injuries respectively. Meanwhile, Osaka’s replacement, Kiki Bertens, also pulled out with illness during her group stage match with Belinda Bencic.
After an arguably stellar year for women’s tennis, where tour favourites Simona Halep and Ashleigh Barty won majors, the Serena Williams near-miss storyline raged on, and teenage talents emerged in US Open champion Andreescu and worldwide phenomenon Coco Gauff, the season has fallen flat in its last week. The shame in it all is that it should have been a huge celebration of the leaps and bounds made since King and her contemporaries were told to be thankful for the crumbs they were being paid in comparison to the men. But this week has proven a well-cited but often forgotten truth: that money is not everything.