Why It’s No Surprising That Sibiontech Skipped the Korea Open[황규인의 잡학사전]

Lee Ga-biontek, who competed in the Cincinnati Open. Cincinnati = AP Newsis

When Iga Swiatek (23, Poland), ranked number one in the world, said she would participate in the Korea Open of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), I had a feeling that something was ‘a bit strange’.

The day the Korea Open Organizing Committee announced that Sibiontek had expressed his intention to compete was the 25th of last month.

Six days earlier, on the 19th, after losing in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open, Sibirytek complained that “the WTA office is forcing players to play too many matches.”

In this situation, it is difficult to understand why Sibiontek is participating in the Korea Open, which is a WTA 500 level tournament.

WTA 125 rating is ‘2nd division’

This year’s WTA Tour schedule includes four major tournaments, ten WTA 1000-level tournaments, 17 WTA 500-level tournaments, and 23 WTA 250-level tournaments.

The number following the title indicates the ranking points the winner receives (2000 points for a major tournament).

Therefore, the higher this number, the higher the level of the competition.

The Korea Open, which is being held for the 20th time this year, was a WTA 250-level tournament until last year, but has been upgraded to a 500-level tournament this year.

Iga Swiatek, who competed in the Porsche Grand Prix, a WTA 500-level tournament. Photo source: tournament website

Players whose ranking qualifies them for each tournament are ‘mandatory’ to participate in major tournaments and WTA 1000-level tournaments.

And players who qualify are also required to compete in at least six WTA 500-level tournaments.

Top-ranked players like Sibirytek also have to compete in the WTA Finals, the year-end final tournament.

In short, these players are required to participate in 21 tournaments per year (4 major tournaments + 10 WTA 1000-level tournaments + 6 WTA 500-level tournaments + WTA Finals).

China Open, a WTA 1000-level tournament held in Beijing

‘Mandatory participation’ means that if you do not participate in this competition, you will be required to reflect 0 ranking points for each competition when calculating the world ranking.

The world ranking is basically calculated based on the best 18 competitions over a 52-week period (1 year).

However, if you skip two mandatory competitions, your ranking will be calculated based on only the points you received from the 16 competitions.

In that case, it would be a reasonable choice to skip WTA 1000-level tournaments over major tournaments, and WTA 500-level tournaments over WTA 1000-level tournaments.

This year’s China Open, where all top 20 players have declared their intention to compete. Photo source: tournament social media

The Korea Open is a tournament sandwiched between the US Open, a major tournament, and the China Open, a WTA 1000-level tournament.

So it’s not surprising that a player who had risen ‘high’ in the US Open would drop out.

A representative example is Jessica Pegula (30, USA, 3rd), who finished runner-up at the US Open and is the defending champion, but did not compete in this year’s Korea Open.

Also, Sibiontek is the China Open champion last year, so he must participate in this tournament to manage his ranking points.

Jessica Pegula, last year’s Korea Open champion. Courtesy of the tournament organizing committee.

If there is a problem with the Korea Open being upgraded to WTA 500 status, it is a problem.

WTA 250-level tournaments may pay invitation fees to top-ranked players.

This is why former world No. 1 players such as Maria Sharapova (37, Russia, 2004), Venus Williams (44, USA, 2007), Caroline Wozniacki (34, Denmark, 2012), and Karolina Pliskova (32, Czech Republic, 2014) are on the list of winners of the Korea Open.

Since WTA 500-level tournaments do not have invitation fees, there is not much the organizing committee can do if a player does not participate.

This year’s Korea Open poster. Courtesy of the organizing committee.

For this reason, this year’s Korea Open was a tournament where three of the four players who appeared on the tournament poster did not participate: Sibirytek, Pegula, and Elena Rybakina (25, Kazakhstan, 4th place).

Thanks to the participation of 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu (22, UK, 70th), the criticism that ‘this tournament poster is a complete fraud’ was slightly avoided.

Lee Jin-soo, the tournament director of the Korea Open, explained, “We also have many complaints. When the posters were made, all these players were supposed to come. If it weren’t for the Chuseok holiday, we would have made new posters, but there were unavoidable aspects.”

He added, “(Even though the number of players declaring their absence has decreased) many spectators came to see us. We will do our best to prepare so that you can watch the game in a slightly better environment.”

2024-09-17 09:49:29