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The recent ATP-WTA merger decision put forward by some tennis stars is a big move, according to two former tennis stars in the form of Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny. While they certainly called the idea interesting, it was accompanied by some scathing criticism of women’s tennis.
According to them, the measure would undoubtedly be a great boost for women’s tennis. However, they were ambiguous about the impact it could have on men’s play. This pointed in the direction that this is uniquely good for women.
Their opinions reflected a certain look of condescension towards the women’s game. In fact, part of the conversation could offend the best tennis stars. Let’s see what Safin and Youzhny discussed on their live Instagram.
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What did Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny say?
Marat Safin opined that this was a great move to market the tennis product in a better way. However, he made a controversial statement after this. He believes that women’s tennis is not sold separately as a product were it not for Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
That was not all. Mikhail Youzhny would go a step further by saying that the WTA players weren’t really recognizable to him. In fact, he criticized their consistency by saying that he could identify them individually but did not know what they were doing in terms of ranking despite being an avid follower.
“I work in tennis and I can’t name the Top 10 in the WTA. I probably know those players, but I couldn’t tell if they are in the Top 10 or not.”
There is no problem criticizing the fact that there is a lack of consistency in women’s tennis. However, the choice of words could be more careful. There are incredible women competing on the WTA circuit and their hard work is mocked by such comments.
