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Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n\u2022 Here\u2019s a new angle<\/a> to the Wimbledon expansion saga.<\/p>\n \u2022 Story No. 1 to watch: Even before the Iran war, there had been considerable opposition within the WTA to the Finals being held in Saudi Arabia. Now, the event is looking for a new home<\/a>. As lawyers review the force majeure clause of the deal (i.e., unforeseen events beyond the parties\u2019 control that prohibit one side from fulfilling a contract), watch for other markets to emerge with bids to hold the event in the future<\/a>, if not in 2026. There is a lot to discuss here. What happens to the Saudi-funded maternity policy? Did the WTA get played, giving Saudi Arabia an entree into tennis that they parlayed into a 56-draw ATP 1000 slot without a women\u2019s event attached? Can a U.S. promoter make the math make sense?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Story to watch No. 2: Here is the WTA\u2019s policy on eligibility<\/a> from October 2024. It will be interesting to see if this will be revisited after the IOC banned transgender women athletes from women\u2019s events. Tennis, of course, has an interesting history here. Renee Richards is a transgender pioneer in the sport, and after going to court<\/a> to secure her right to play, she played on the WTA Tour and cracked the top 20. She has firm views here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Congrats to Ray Benton, honored with the NJTL Founders\u2019 Service Award during the 2026 USTA Annual Meeting & Conference, held in Orlando.<\/p>\n Onward \u2026<\/p>\n There were a lot of questions this week about the state of the Miami Open (which were really complaints about everything from the venue to the weather to the price of parking and nostalgia for Key Biscayne). I want to acknowledge this chatter. But also\u2014to some extent\u2014defend the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Almost 100 years ago, a prominent Miami family, the Mathesons, donated land on Key Biscayne to Dade County on the condition that a causeway\/bridge be constructed<\/a>, connecting Key Biscayne to the city on the mainland.<\/p>\n The donated land essentially became Crandon Park, where the Miami Open was staged for decades. As a condition of this donation, the deed included a clause stating that only one stadium would be built and that the land would be used \u201cfor public park purposes only.\u201d<\/p>\n Matheson heirs, Bruce Matheson in particular,<\/a> spent years suing the event and seeking to block any expansion, renovations and upgrades. Admittedly, it\u2019s hard to argue that an IMG-owned tennis event was consistent with \u201cpublic park purposes only.\u201d It\u2019s also hard to argue that an annual tournament that creates jobs, goodwill, and community isn\u2019t a net positive, something akin to a public trust, that one of Miami\u2019s founding families would want to support (or at least not try to block). Nevertheless, when courts found in the family\u2019s favor, the event was cooked\u2014at least on Key Biscayne.<\/p>\n IMG, the owners, could probably have made off quite nicely, selling to an overseas promoter. Instead, it looked for a creative local alternative venue.<\/p>\n The solution, such as it is, to hold the event inside a football stadium (Hard Rock Stadium), is not perfect. Nor is the South Florida weather in March. And everyone, Bruce Matheson notwithstanding, wishes the event had been allowed to grow and flourish on Key Biscayne.<\/p>\n But the tournament has to play the hand it was dealt, and I\u2019m not sure that there was a better play.<\/p>\n There were also a lot of questions about Iga \u015awi\u0105tek this week. Following her early defeat in Miami, she announced she was parting with coach Wim Fissette. A number of you asked variations of \u201cHow concerned should we be?\u201d and \u201cWhere does she go from here?\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m of two minds here. <\/p>\n 1) Calm down, folks. She is 24, has won six majors on three different surfaces. She is the defending Wimbledon champion, charging to victory after a sub-par clay season that prompted many of the same questions and concerns. She\u2019ll go to the Rafa Nadal Academy and prepare for clay, her chosen surface. She\u2019ll find a calming veteran coach (Michael Joyce?) and reset. Careers are not straight lines.<\/p>\n 2) But more concerningly, \u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s self-assessment was so harsh and personal. It was hard not to feel sympathy for her travails and admiration for her withering honesty. But I was also thinking, Wait, you have a psychologist who has long played a considerable role in your career. And you are saying things<\/a> like \u201cTennis feels complicated in my head\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ve always been an overthinker; lately it\u2019s just been really intense.\u201d<\/a> And \u201cI just must\u2014I don\u2019t know; unconsciously or consciously it\u2019s hard for me to say\u2014change things, and then my tennis kind of collapses.\u201d This is problematic.<\/p>\n And how is firing the coach the solution? This is like a player with a highly present physiotherapist continually struggling with injuries and conditioning, then parting ways with the stringer or biomechanics expert.<\/p>\n A provocative question. The ATP and WTA don\u2019t recognize Russian and Belarusian flags due to the aggressive war against Ukraine. Should they also do the same for U.S. players? Double standard?<\/p>\n @kevinbeaujolais<\/p>\n \u2022 Sure, I\u2019ll bite here. I\u2019ll start by differentiating between an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign democratic neighbor and a war against a repressive theocracy that massacred 30,000 citizens<\/a> protesting for democracy. I say this not to defend the aggressors, but to stress the differences between Ukraine and Iran.<\/p>\n But your point is well-taken. Tennis\u2019s decision to protest Russia\u2014Vladimir Putin, really\u2014by deciding not to acknowledge the flags of players from Russia and Belarus may have been well-intentioned. However, a sanction, even a symbolic one, imposed on individuals for a collective act, is morally debatable. And it launches us down the slipperiest of slopes, into the bouncy castle of whataboutism. Russia\u2019s actions are blameworthy. But China\u2019s crimes against humanity<\/a> against the Uyghur population don\u2019t meet the bar? Or the U.S.\u2019s military intervention in Venezuela<\/a>? Or Israel and the U.S.\u2019s attacks in the Iran war? Or the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s acknowledge that this is tricky for both athletes and sports governing bodies. Keep politics out of sports is a na\u00efve and hollow catchphrase. Sports and geopolitics are entangled, whether we like it or not, whether we prefer the benign diversion of sports to weightier issues. Athletes (and governing bodies) may feel pressure to avoid divisive hot-button topics. They also can feel pressure to \u201cuse their platform and privilege\u201d and speak out in ways others can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
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