[babsi]

When I went in 2003 it was busy. With the poor field now I am not surprised it is less now.

And before they had Momo whose matches were always full.

[Geekking]

Why not moving it to Turkey?

[Jimmie48]

Originally Posted by SAISAI-GOAT

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

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

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

You`re so full of shit..I can't.

Please get your ass away from the computer and visit a tournament for once so that you may get a remote idea of what you`re talking about.

Dentist office? The atmosphere during the Bartoli match was amazing even though it was an early rounds match, people were going nuts. Even the seniors who sat right besides me were shouting like crazy.

Cornet had less crowd support because she doesn't seem to be all that well liked, the crowd was even booing her arguing with the umpire. Mladenovic on the other hand had the arena behind her and it was great.

In general the tournament seems to be pretty healthy, even the matches on Court 1 had decent crowds both days. And unlike in Asia or the Middle East where most of the crowd seems to be some of the nouveau riche kind who just go to be seen there, the fans in Europe are regular people who really do care about tennis and that reflects in the atmosphere - Something that is nonexistent in China or Doha.

Money may buy you tournaments but it can never buy you dedicated fans or a passion for tennis among regular people.

[Melange]

Originally Posted by JarkaFish

He forgot to add that the entire top 10 besides Na should be replaced with Chinese look-a-likes!

Some of the players outside top 10 already trying

[JarkaFish]

^

[Raiden]

^^ Lmao!

[Big_Banana]

dentist office

[longtin23]

Not a new information that Paris attendance is very poor. It actually looks like an Metro station with a field always the same, Lucie, Petra, Marion and Carla... And can we just stop saying that China got the worst attendance, I mean if you place those spectators in Paris, Madrid or Rome to those mega court in China, it would be he same, sparse and looks less... It's not like China is the only country with tournaments with extremely low attendance...

[égalité]

Isn't that kind of like saying, "Florida is too hot so I'm moving to Saudi Arabia?"

[Adrian.]

Originally Posted by Patrick345

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.

[Adrian.]

Originally Posted by longtin23

Not a new information that Paris attendance is very poor. It actually looks like an Metro station with a field always the same, Lucie, Petra, Marion and Carla... And can we just stop saying that China got the worst attendance, I mean if you place those spectators in Paris, Madrid or Rome to those mega court in China, it would be he same, sparse and looks less... It's not like China is the only country with tournaments with extremely low attendance...

PARIS >>> any tournament in China

[longtin23]

Originally Posted by Adrian.

PARIS >>> any tournament in China

In what ways? Prize money? Player field? Spectators? (I am sure QF in Beijing is still better than Paris today) Staidium?

[coolfish1103]

The act of

- Catering schedules toward ATP
- Saturday finals
- Shortening season
- Unclear event titles
- $ dictating events
- Top players losing matches left and right (inconsistent)
- Unpopular/unliked top player
- Weird schedules pulling top events together
- No young players breaking through

...are all killing the WTA as a tour

Though, not everything can be fixed by WTA. The ones that WTA can fix are not being done.

[Jimmie48]

Originally Posted by longtin23

In what ways? Prize money? Player field? Spectators? (I am sure QF in Beijing is still better than Paris today) Staidium?

Player field? No, since players are basically forced to play Beijing and Paris has an unfortunate place in the schedule.

[longtin23]

Originally Posted by Jimmie48

Player field? No, since players are basically forced to play Beijing and Paris has an unfortunate place in the schedule.

So what? I mean if players arent compulsory to play Montreal and Cincy, do you think every top players will play back-to-back so both tournaments have great field. If you compare Gungzhou, I can also say it's poor schedule after USO.