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Sorry But The Abysmal Crowds In Paris Justify Stacy Moving SEWTA To China

14K views 166 replies 78 participants last post by  BillFromRichmond 
#1 ·
OK you guys are always whining that the SEWTA is gradually moving all of its events to China, South America and the Middle East, and in the process "killing off" European events with decades of history and an amazing atmosphere :tape:

but I just watched highlights of SEWTA Paris and the atmosphere was like a dentist office ... the stands were only 10% full, including to watch Disco Petra and hometown favorites Marion & Alize :help:

I would say that for sure the crowds are China Open, Doha, Dubai are better and they will be better for sure in Wuhan ... add in the fact that sponsors in those countries have the $$$ to pay the SEWTA, it is natural for Stacy to pull the ax down on all European events :awww:
 
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#4 ·
I have no problem if they are killing Cincinnati for Wuhan, not Tokyo for Wuhan.
 
#12 ·
Agree. They should add more events in Asia, but better not move Tokyo. Cincinnati? I'm not sure. But if Wuhan is going to have a new event, maybe they should start with an international, or a premier for the most.

I watched Mauresmo Open this week. the attendance is not so encouraging, even with home players like Bartoli or Mladenovic in evening matches.
 
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#6 ·
So because the attendance in Paris has been low for the 1st and 2nd rounds, that automatically justifies moving the tour to "China, South America and the Middle East?" Dumb thread.
 
#10 ·
A tournament the week after AO (or after a slam) would be empty everywhere because there's nobody interesting. If you notice there's just 2 top ten only because they lost in the R1\R2 of AO :lol:
 
#11 ·
Paris is right after the Australian Open.



Regular tour goers are hard-cord tennis fans. Those people surely didn't miss the first Slam of the year. After having a big meal, they are still full to ready to eat some more.


Plus early in the week in Paris, where the filed is not as strong comparing to other Premiers, poor attendance is expected. This is not a good indication by any means to suggest that Asia would have better attendance comparing other Europeans' tournaments.
 
#13 ·
They need to combine men and women tours for every tournament! Hmmm? No? Yeah?
 
#16 ·
- No women's history.
- Too many events in North America being big ones.
- No need to smash Premier 5s back-to-back to create dreadful fields.

As of now there are:

- 2 Premier Mandatory in US/North America
- 1 Premier Mandatory in Spain/Europe
- 1 Premier Mandatory in China/East Asia

- 1 Premier 5 in Doha/Middle East
- 1 Premier 5 in Canada/North America
- 1 Premier 5 in US/North America
- 1 Premier 5 in Italy/Europe
- 1 Premier 5 in Tokyo/East Asia

= 4 North America
= 2 Europe
= 2 East Asia
= 1 Middle East

I won't mind if the Cincy one goes to South America or Africa.
 
#45 ·
I think the most stupid P5 is Doha. They have money, they don't need a P5 status. ATP has shown that Dubai 500 has a better field than non-mandatory Mickey Carlo Masters 1000. So, have Dubai a bit earlier and give its current spot to South America for a P5. Cincy is good as it is, it logical to have a P5 in USA at that time.

Then what about Africa? P5 there would be too big a risk, they don't have the money of Asia. But I'd like to see a "normal" Primier e.g. in South Africa with some big names. And if it worked, then give YEC there to see if Africa is ready for a P5 and an African swing.
This isn't actually true. ATP Dubai never really has had a better field than ATP Monte Carlo (who only really Federer skips these days). It's because if you make these events non-mandatory, they will buy up the top players, but you end up with a really lopsided field where it will have like a couple of players ranked between about 10-40 because these players aren't getting paid to play there, and know with say the top 4 in the world playing that they have no chance of winning, and the prize money isn't enough to entice them.

I don't really have a problem with the Doha-Dubai back to back. Because if you changed one to South America as suggested you will get very few players actually play both events, because it just won't be viable to do so.
 
#64 ·
This isn't actually true. ATP Dubai never really has had a better field than ATP Monte Carlo (who only really Federer skips these days). It's because if you make these events non-mandatory, they will buy up the top players, but you end up with a really lopsided field where it will have like a couple of players ranked between about 10-40 because these players aren't getting paid to play there, and know with say the top 4 in the world playing that they have no chance of winning, and the prize money isn't enough to entice them.
ATP Dubai does just as much as it needs to promote ATP in Middle East. They have most of top 10, and nobody there cares about #11-40. It's almost a non-mandatory "Masters 500" but it leaves one more Masters 1000 in Europe where it's cheaper for non-top10 players to travel to. WTA could do the same with Doha.
 
#21 ·
Cincy needs to stay simply because it's one of the few faster outdoor hardcourt tournaments on tour these days.
That is true.

Well, it's not like I want an event in Wuhan anyways.
 
#18 ·
even in Premier events the seats are empty, those in USA (Indian Wells,Cinci someone?) You never been in Stade Pierre De Coubertin to say there's no atmosphere. I went there when Amélie was playing and I can assure there's NO BETTER ATMOSPHERE than there for an indoor tournament. You cant replace Paris and it's History, especially not for cold and big stadium like we see in China Open.:rolleyes:
 
#19 ·
even in Premier events the seats are empty, those in USA (Indian Wells,Cinci someone?) You never been in Stade Pierre De Coubertin to say there's no atmosphere. I went there when Amélie was playing and I can assure there's NO BETTER ATMOSPHERE than there for an indoor tournament. You cant replace Paris and it's History, especially not for cold and big stadium like we see in China Open.:rolleyes:
Problem is that there's no more Amelie. :sad:

Bartoli is like the anti-Mauresmo tbh. :tape:
 
#20 ·
I was there for semis last year. Sure, the stadium was not full but there were lots of people and the atmosphere was nice :shrug: Also, these are the first rounds with hardly any great names so what do you expect. Not like the tournaments in so highly attented...it's quite the opposite, isn't it.
 
#65 ·
I agree with this but honestly wouldn't mind them moving the tournament to San Diego instead, that way I could actually attend every year :lol:

The spread is still pretty even to me. There probably should be more emphasis on events in the Middle East. I know the ladies all really enjoyed the YEC crowds from the past few years, maybe they can find a way back.
 
#27 ·
Well the tournament certainly has suffered after the retirement of Mauresmo, Pierce, Golovin and Henin, who were crowd-favourites. Somehow it doesn't work with Bartoli.

The Open GDF Suez is my favourite tournament, but I do have to agree that the attendance so far has been very disappointing. You also have to include that the Stadiums in China are much bigger than the Stade Coubertin, so you know that there are really not many spectators when the seats are 10% filled.

I really hope the attendance will be bigger for the weekend, it's such a cool tournament and I don't wanna see another Indoor event being cancelled.
 
#33 ·
Paris used to be after Tokyo PPO and was big until Doha/Dubai became a P5
the farcical thing when Mauresmp couldnt play Doha after she won Paris cos she had to play the Monday after really knocked Paris back
Now its straight after AO so even worse.
 
#28 ·
Overall it's probably not the best idea to have a tournament like this in such a city like Paris. When people in Paris want to watch Tennis then they go for Roland Garros or even Paris-Bercy. Why care about a women's event with a mediocre field?

Cities like Eastbourne, Luxembourg or -s'Hertogenbosch do not have many great sport events, therefore the people there really appreciate having a WTA-Tournament.
 
#30 ·
The place was packed, when Bartoli was playing this year and last year. Was pretty full when Mladenovic was playing, too. Problem is the capacity of the place is probably somewhere between 500 and 1500. The 2nd court is probably holding a 100 seats. So when the 15000 seat stadium in China appears completely empty there are still as many people as in a packed European indoors event. For the final between Vika and Maria it was well packed. The Beijing final alone probably outdrew the whole events in Linz or Luxembourg. It´s not that shocking though considering that Beijing is twice as big in population as the whole of Austria and Luxembourg combined. The other problem is Europe has no outdoors hardcourt fascilities. It´s clay, grass, indoors settings. It´s just the reality of the situation that tennis is not that popular in Europe anymore. Asia can throw money at the best tennis players and actually get them. So that is where the Asian money goes for prestigious sports events. Tennis, Summer/Winter Olympics, or a World Cup. You cannot get the basketball or football players in their prime, because they play for equal or more money in Europe and the NBA.
 
#55 ·
The place was packed, when Bartoli was playing this year and last year. Was pretty full when Mladenovic was playing, too. Problem is the capacity of the place is probably somewhere between 500 and 1500. The 2nd court is probably holding a 100 seats. So when the 15000 seat stadium in China appears completely empty there are still as many people as in a packed European indoors event. For the final between Vika and Maria it was well packed. The Beijing final alone probably outdrew the whole events in Linz or Luxembourg. It´s not that shocking though considering that Beijing is twice as big in population as the whole of Austria and Luxembourg combined. The other problem is Europe has no outdoors hardcourt fascilities. It´s clay, grass, indoors settings. It´s just the reality of the situation that tennis is not that popular in Europe anymore. Asia can throw money at the best tennis players and actually get them. So that is where the Asian money goes for prestigious sports events. Tennis, Summer/Winter Olympics, or a World Cup. You cannot get the basketball or football players in their prime, because they play for equal or more money in Europe and the NBA.
Linz has muuuuuch more people watching during the week, even at Q-round than Luxembourg.
Get your facts right. :wavey:
 
#38 ·
I think you just have to accept you're not going to get great crowds for the whole week at most events. I would be more concerned with weekends' attendances. Which brings me to the point of why do a lot of WTA events have Saturday finals, they should have Saturday semi-finals and Sunday final (outside of places like Doha where the weekend is Friday-Saturday) in order to get the best attendances for the latter stages of events.

Really the WTA calendar is set out in a way now where they basically want the top players to play the following schedule :-
Brisbane, Australian Open, Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome, French Open, Wimbledon, Canada, Cincinnati, US Open, Tokyo, Beijing, YEC.
That is basically the schedule that top players are forced to follow and as a result means everywhere else is unlikely to get good fields.
 
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