For those who haven’t heard, the tennis world has been pretty ablaze (I mean hell, there’s nothing else going on) with the news originally shared by Stephanie Myles that Ana will not be receiving a wildcard into Montreal and instead will have to play the qualifying for the first time in… oh, probably forever.
Two particular articles have been focused on, the Tom Tebutt one, and the Stephanie Myles one (the actual newspaper article is a bit more trimmed down, but since the blog post carries more info, I’ll go with that one). Here’s what I think.
In case you don’t know, like both of the writers of the above articles, I’m a Canadian. I’m also quite the huge Ana fan.
Originally, I thought people were over reacting. This is my original reaction to about 90% of situations where tons of people rapidly freak out over a complicated issue. Hold your horses. Let’s think this through.
And so I did. And then I became angry. Ana is a grand slam champ, and a former number 1. She’s a household name, a great personality, and great for the tour and surely the tournament. And… hey, what the fuck?! She won the tournament in 2006!
But a day or two away from it, some more reading on the issue, and I’ve started to change my mind. Before we all freak out, let’s take some time to do away with a couple of things from the Tebutt article.
First off, he says this: “Sharapova, Venus, Clijsters, Jankovic and Safina are all scheduled to play in Cincinnati the week before the Rogers Cup. Considering the current attrition rate among players, there is no guarantee all of them will make it to Montreal. In that case, Ivanovic’s high-profile stature could become a prized asset for the tournament.” Um, no. 1) All four semifinalists of Cincy in 2009 played Toronto. One won it (Elena) and the Cincy champion, JJ, made the quarters in Toronto. 2) The only names missing from Montreal are Serena and Henin. Not exactly nobodys, sure, but it’s because of injury, and anyone attending the tournament knows that the best players in women’s tennis are going to be there. And it’s not like last years champ, Dementieva, or even another slam winner, Schiavone, are total unknowns.
In other words, tournaments like Stanford and San Diego need players who give name recognition. Montreal does not.
A history of wildcards in Canada does not fall on the side of Ana either. Only one wildcard has been given to a non-Canadian in the past four years; Kim last year. Kim got that because she hadn’t been playing, and thus didn’t even have a ranking when she got it. Understandable.
I think where people are getting confused with the actual organization of this tournament. The tournament is organized by Tennis Canada, and Tennis Canada has a very strong presence at the tournament. If you take a look at the Tennis Canada website, you’ll see its “mission is to lead the growth, promotion, and and showcasing of the sport of tennis in Canada…”
The point isn’t that the tournament is snubbing a former champion. Instead Tennis Canada will likely give Canadian Stephanie Dubois, a native of nearby Laval, Quebec. She has a total of $500k in career prize money, whereas Ana has over $7 million. She even reached the third round of the Montreal tournament in 2006 with, yes, a wildcard.
Ana, on the other hand, while being a former champion and big name, has clearly failed to keep her ranking up, nor chosen to play smaller tournaments.
(until this summer) to try and get it back up. Furthermore, she’s not likely to be an automatic centre court selection this year, unlike last year in Toronto where she played Rybarikova on centre court in the first round. Dubois, a hometown girl, could easily be slotted into an opening night match (remember, not everyone who goes to big tennis tournaments is a tennis nerd).
Hell, I’m not asking you to change your mind and agree with this decision. I’m pretty upset that Ana has gotten the snub too, and you can bet that the tournament isn’t thrilled to have to make such a decision. At the same time, this may be a blessing in disguise for Ana, who will have
to get some wins under her belt if she wants to enter the main draw, and you can bet she’ll get great treatment, and feel comfortable on centre court for the quallies.
So spaz all you want Ana KADs. I hear you. But realize where and how this decision came to be made, and that at the end of the day, Ana’s play is what has created this situation to begin with.
Hi. Great, measured and well-argued post.
I think it’s an understandable decision especially if the decision came between her and Stephanie Dubois. Dubois is going to bring a ton of family/friends/neighbours to watch her in the opening rounds. These are people who will travel and put butts in the seats. While Ana is popular, I don’t know how many extra “butts to the seats” she’ll be bringing in the opening rounds.
Also, it’s disappointing to read some reactions from Ana fans (not yourself, obviously) who are trashing the tournament now. The fact still remains that the Rogers Cup is one of the better, more well-funded and well-regarded events on the WTA calendar and to call it second-rate simply because they had to make an unpopular decision is a little childish. I’ll admit my bias since I love the Rogers Cup and look forward to the Toronto event every year.
Finally, my last point is that Ana should get through qualies anyway and make it into the main draw and with some momentum behind her. And, if you think about it, if she can’t get past qualies, then why should she be in the main draw in the first place?
I look forward to seeing her do well in the tournament and turning things around in general.
I’m definitely with you on this one. I understand the anger from fans, but Ana really has no one to blame but herself. A wildcard isn’t going to do her any good if she draws a seeded player and loses in the first round. Playing qualies against some lower ranked players to potentially get some match wins and gain back her confidence would be good for her.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. 11-time champion Martina Navratilova had to go through qualies at Eastbourne a few years ago, and the same with Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rome last year, in a very similar situation to Ana (former champion there, former world #1, RG champion)
I like Ana, but she can’t keep getting special privileges like this. She can’t keep expecting to get handouts when her form lately indicates she doesn’t deserve them, or that there are local players who deserve them just as much as she might. Ana should’ve spent these weeks since Wimbledon playing some of the smaller events to try and boost her ranking, then this might not even be an issue.
Sorry Brodie, not convinced one bit. What angered me more was the tournament director lame excuse for denying Ana a wild card. Lets start with this:
Lapierre (tournament director): “The way I analyzed it was that, yes, she’s a player who has done a lot for our tournament — almost saved it one year.”
Sooo, this is the way you repay a former champion back? Ana practically saved this tournament in his own words, won it and promoted the hell out of it and that means absolutely nothing to them? I’m sorry, but if you don’t get rewarded for winning a tournament, what’s the point in playing it? How could Ana play for a event where the organizers clearly don’t appreciate or respect anything she has done for it in the past, especially the fact that she is a former champion? They’re basically devaluing their entire tournament and what it means to win it. l could never play for someone who doesn’t at least respect me. Here is another quote:
Lapierre (tournament director): “But the fact is that she hasn’t demonstrated (with her play) that she deserves a wild card,” he said Monday. “It’s not the same as a player who has been injured and away for awhile. . . . She is the one who dropped down to No. 65, not because of an injury.”
So if this is the criteria for handing out wild cards, then they’re are the biggest bunch of hypocrites on the face of the planet. Dubois has done absolutely nothing to deserve a wild card based on that explanation. Ana is ranked 63rd, Dubois is ranked 125th. End of. The other chick I never even heard of.
And no, they shouldn’t be handing out wild cards to players just because of their nationality. This ain’t the Olympics or Fed Cup, this is a WTA tournament. That goes for all the American tournaments who should never hand out wild cards to players just because they’re Americans. A players resume should always be the deciding factor and you put Ana’s resume against the others, it’s not even close.
Look, I am not against Ana playing qualies, and I don’t think she is entitled to a wild card at every event just because she is a past slam champ and world #1. In the long run, it’s probably good for her. If this was any other event, we wouldn’t even be having this debate. But this event is an exception. Ana has earned this wild card for being a former champion. That has to count for something.
All good points Curtis. Really. Just one thing. The “her ranking is low and not because of injury” thing I think is mostly in regards to the “well you gave Kim a wildcard and she had no ranking and isn’t Canadian!” argument.
you are not telling the truth.
tournament IS thrilled to make such a decision to the point they
are advertising it on facebook
“come to see monkey dancing! And we made her do tthat!…”
classy
im telling you again. you should never again call herself Ana fan.
Shame on you
And i hope she never again sets her foot into your country
Sorry, but how does being an Ana fan mean I have to blindly get angry when a tournament doesn’t give her a wildcard because of a valid reason? That’s sameful? Doesn’t mean I don’t like the girl, or find it unfortunate that she’s not in the main draw. I’m just seeing the bigger picture and defending the tournament on its decision. It’s not unwarranted.
Curtis, I’ve looked at the Premier tournaments this year. Wildcards given out have mostly been to players of the host country.
Sydney: Casey Dellacqua, Justine Henin
Charleston: Mallory Cecil, Carly Gullickson, Alison Riske
Rome: Maria Elena Camerin, Corinna Dentoni, Romina Oprandi, Serena Williams
Madrid: Sybille Bammer, Ana Ivanović, Arantxa Parra Santonja, Peng Shuai, Virginia Ruano Pascual
Warsaw: Marta Domachowska, Katarzyna Piter
Eastbourne: Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong, Svetlana Kuznetsova
So Toronto has a valid reason of giving Dubois the wildcard over Ana.
Great call. Wild cards aren’t always “well these will help bring people in!” They’re also for the benefit of the players who receive them, often as lower ranked players, who then get a chance.
So, I’ve haven’t been paying one damn iota on tennis since Wimbledon (wake me when Stanford starts) but I’ve somehow heard a lot about this. My little opinion on the matter-tournaments, minus the Slams, are going to give the wildcards out to the local players. This year at Charleston Mallory Cecil got a wildcard cause she’s from South Carolina. If Toronto wants to give it out to a local girl then it’s their right. As much as a star Ana is, I would think promoting the Canadian player would be more priority for them. Especially since you said that Tennis Canada has a big presence within the tournament.
I get why AnaKADS are freaking out, but I don’t see the point in it. I bet if this was in Serbia and Ana was ranked #202 (without a GS and a past #1 by her name) she would have gotten a WC. Like tennisetviola pointed out, that’s what these tournaments do. And quite frankly I like it. Who knows if Cecil will ever become a Top 100 player, but I’m happy that a local player got to play in the FCC.
(Sorta off topic, are you still going to Toronto when the tournament starts Brodie? I remember we talked about this back in, like, March. You were debating whether to volunteer at the tournament or just go and be a fan.)
Yup, I am
Though Montreal this year, since it changes every year 
Great post. I actually agree with everything you said, and I think you made a really good point about how this shouldn’t be seen as a snub to Ana. Tennis Canada’s decision was not made to purposely snub Ana and force her to qualify, it was made to allow Canadian players the opportunity to compete in a major event, as well as to bring in the many ticket sales that come when local players are competing.
What I really don’t understand is why are some AnaKADs hating on other AnaKADs just for having a difference of opinion. Don’t we all love Ana to begin with?
My 2 cents: Ana has always emphasized that she wants to be known for her ability to play rather than her looks. To me, the wildcard would have been given to her for her star power/looks rather than her ability. Is that what she wants?
But I do think that the organizer shouldn’t have made a big headline news about her playing qualies. I think it was a good intention gone wrong.
well, i’ve tried to stay out of this battle, but here are my 2 cents. The girl has only won 12 matches the whole year. Yes, she won the Rogers Cup FOUR years ago. Tennis, like all sports is a “what have you done for me lately” proposition, and honestly, as much as i like her, she’s really been a non-entity on court in 2010.
As tennisetviola pointed out, most tournaments save their wildcards for lower ranked local players, so there is nothing really strange or malicious about Ana not receiving a wild card into the field.
On a purely tennis front, if Ana can’t make it through the qualies, its time for her to start playing challengers. She needs the experience of winning again. No doubt she has all the talent in the world, but she just has to get things straightened out in her head. Winning some matches will do that for a player.
Bokash, at this point, if Ana never set foot in our Country again, it really wouldn’t mean much to the Rogers Cup, which always has a great number of top players. Also, way to over react dude.
My 2 cents. Ana should have followed the Sharapova blueprint. Build confidence by playing lower level tournaments equal to your ranking. Does anyone else think that Sharapova did not want to play Eastbourne, or perhaps wanted to get more money by playing Eastbourne instead of Birmingham or even better, played better clay quality tournaments coming in rather than Strassbourg.
How about her playing Memphis early on in the season in order to rebuild her game after getting knocked out of the first round at the AO. By no stretch of the imagination is Ana a bigger draw card than Sharapova, yet Sharapova took the lesser way out, beat up on some no name opponents and got her confidence back, so much so that people are still talking about her match against Serena at this year’s Wimbledon and some have picked her to win this year’s USO.
Ana needs to get a reality check and the organisers of the Rogers Cup telling her she has to play qualies is that reality check. Fans of hers have been saying for months that what she needs to do is play the smaller events to get her game back on track. Clearly, she thinks she is better than that.
If Serena Williams could go to Hobart and lose to Sybille Bammer in an effort to climb back on top of the rankings, I see no reason why Ana should not play lower level events, or indeed, play qualifying in order to enter the main draw of premier events.
For whats its worth, if she is that good and her game is deserving of a main draw or a wildcard, then she should prove it to all of us. Ana has not had any big wins in a long time. She has not won a tournament or indeed got to the finals of any tournament for nigh on 2 years. It is not just injury which has made her ranking and game become the way it has. It has been her dismal results. It is time for everyone to stop rewarding her for her poor performance.
We all know that Ana is a lovely person who has done much for the Rogers Cup. As a player on the WTA Tour that is part of your job description. To promote your sport. She does not get brownie points for that. If the tournament benefits from her promotion, so does Ana.
Fantastic point. Totally forgot about Masha going and playing Memphis. And Birmingham, which is a great, but small tournament. And she’s one of the most recognizable names in tennis. Great call.
As an Ana fan, I don’t mind her playing qualies, as I agree that it should build her confidence. What I have an issue with is the way the tournament director handled the whole thing– saying stuff that a qualifier will never be so well treated– he just comes off as patronizing; especially after saying that if he were her coach he’d force her to play qualies. The guy should have just straight up said this was their decision case closed instead of dishing out these veiled insults. I don’t know, his statements just made me sympathize with Ana instead.