Back to the future: From 2019, there will be only 16 seeded players in the Grand Slam tournaments. Agnieszka Radwanska does not find the idea sparkling.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni worked hard in 2017 – this earned the Croatian 32nd place in the WTA world ranking list. And last place on the seed list for the upcoming Australian Open, which will start in Melbourne in a few weeks. A year later, however, the number of professionals in the women’s and men’s singles is reduced to 16, which would mean interesting constellations in the current situation: a first round meeting between Simona Halep (number one) and Madison Keys (number 19) for instance. Or a replay of the 2016 US Open Final between Angelique Kerber (number 21) and Karolina Pliskova (number four). Or even better still, the Williams sisters’ duel is already on the horizon, Venus is in fifth place, Serena is only 22 after her baby break.
Perhaps an early highlight for the spectators, for Agnieszka Radwanska – not so much. In the past season, the Polish woman has delivered a below-average current account balance for her, Radwanska is currently in 28th place.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,”Radwanska explained to the portal sport360,”I don’t know why they changed that. I don’t know what’s wrong with what we’ve had so far:” Some of the rules would, in their view, only be modified for the sake of change.
“I think it’s good to have 32 seeded players,”Radwanska continues,”These are Grand Slam tournaments, so why do I have to play against the world’s number 17 in the first round and not in the fourth? I don’t think that’s fair, because we’ve worked hard to be seeded, even the players between 16 and 32.”
And when she is in motion, Agnieszka Radwanska knows how to follow up immediately. Even with the introduction of the Shot Clock it can’t get warm “When I played in the IPTL, there was always a clock ticking and I hurried. That was difficult because in the back of your mind you always have this ticking. That was really stressful.”