Stosur calls out Washington schedulers

No.1 seed Sam Stosur has expressed her disappointment with Citi Open tournament organisers for heavily favouring men’s matches in the daily Stadium court schedule.

The Australian on Wednesday night overcame an injured Caroline Wozniacki in the last match of the day on the tournament’s secondary Grandstand court.

Their court assignment raised some eyebrows – this was a battle between the No.1 seed and a Grand Slam champion against a former world No.1 with a significant global fanbase.

Yet of the six matches scheduled on the main Stadium court on Wednesday, five were ATP matches.

“I notice there’s not too many matches on centre court for the women, unfortunately,” said Stosur, who sits on the WTA Player Council.

“It’d be nice if we were kind of 50-50 on centre court, that’s for sure.”

The prevailing explanation for more men’s matches appearing on Stadium court is due to the categorisation of the respective men’s and women’s events.

The ATP event is a 500-level tournament whereas the WTA event is designated as an International tournament, the rough equivalent of an ATP 250 event.

The WTA event still attracted a deep field including Stosur, Wozniacki, Sloane Stephens and former Wimbledon finalists Eugenie Bouchard and Sabine Lisicki.

Priority also seems to be given to American players – yet that didn’t stop organisers scheduling Gael Monfils v Yen-Hsun Lu on Stadium, a battle between a French and Taiwanese player.

Bernard Tomic v Donald Young – the last match of the day’s schedule on Stadium, and which briefly overlapped with Stosur v Wozniacki – was played before largely empty stands.

Stosur v Wozniacki, despite beginning at 10.30pm local time, commanded a full house.

Tomic-Young crowd vs Wozniacki-Stosur (in warmups). Demand just doesn't match WTA subordination here. #CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/z7cI5iZ5P1

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 21, 2016

Full house for Stosur-Wozniacki #CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/5ZLJaiEwaK

— Kelyn Soong (@KelynSoong) July 21, 2016

Women's match of the day at #CitiOpen about to get started: Sam #Stosur vs. Caroline #Wozniacki! #1030pm pic.twitter.com/EkRBU7kzpH

— Tennis View Magazine (@TennisViewMag) July 21, 2016