Martina Navratilova has spoken out against WTA CEO Steve Simon, claiming that he 'has to own the bad decisions'.
The WTA Finals location was announced less than two months ago, with Mexico hosting the year-end event for the second time in three years.
With the event being scheduled for this week, it means that if players also want to compete at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, they will have to travel over 10 hours to Seville, Spain, by Tuesday.
This scheduling lead Iga Swiatek to decide against representing Poland for a second consecutive year, despite her nation being awarded a wildcard.
Another frustration for the players in Cancun this week was the last-minute construction of the facilities, with world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka revealing that she could only use the practice court for 45 minutes prior to her first match.
The weather in Cancun has also been a big topic of conversation this week, with the finals being pushed back to Monday due to heavy rainfall causing major disruptions.
Record eight-time singles and 13-time doubles WTA Finals champion Navratilova is working for Amazon Prime Video in Cancun this week, and was asked about her views on the situation.
"It shouldn’t have come that late in the year, making this decision. There was a sequence of bad decisions,” claimed Navratilova.
The 67-year-old continued, “Ultimately, Steve Simon has been the boss for nine years and here we are. Players adjusted and they had to but to come to Cancun in the rainy season?
"You cannot be hoping it’s not gonna rain at a premier event for the WTA Tour. It was just a whole bunch of decisions. You have to own the bad decisions you made and make some choices after that.”
Amazon Prime confirmed that they had requested to speak to Simon on two occasions, but both were declined by the WTA CEO of eight years.
And Navratilova believes that the WTA should have a female leader in the future, “Maybe it’s time for new leadership. For me personally, this being a woman’s association and being involved for such a long time from the beginning, and we’ve only had three women at the head of it. I think it’s time.
“Hopefully, when we get a new leader, it’s a woman. There are plenty of them that are qualified for the job. It’s gonna be hard for Steve to stay in the job because everything is pointing the other way.”
Jessica Pegula is the only player confirmed in the singles final, after beating doubles compatriot Coco Gauff in straight sets.
She will face the winner of the battle between the top two ranked players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, on Monday.
However, there is no rest for Pegula, who still has to complete the doubles tournament with the aforementioned Gauff, and there is still the potential of three more matches in one day for the American duo.
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