World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has slammed the crowds at the WTA Finals, following a number of poor turn outs in the competition so far. It has been an impressive start for Swiatek, after kicking off her tournament with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.
She then followed this up with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over France’s Caroline Garcia to keep her 100% record in the group stage. Despite Swiatek and the rest of the world’s best on show, the event in Texas has failed to attract the crowds it was expected to.
When Swiatek took on Kasatkina in her opening match, the 14,000 Dickies Arena was barely full, with empty seats occupying most of the spectator area. As a result, following the match the world No. 1 seemingly called for crowd numbers to improve.
She said post-match: “Hopefully, we’re gonna see a full house soon. But yeah, we’ll see,” She then went on: “I’m really looking forward to it because I like taking energy from the crowd.”
It was the second straight day the attendance had been poor in Fort Worth, following a low turnout for the American number one Jessica Pegula’s opening match with Maria Sakkari. One reason given for the poor turnout was the fact it took place on Halloween – a popular family holiday in the United States.
Former WTA star Pam Shriver addressed this on social media, also outlining the short turnaround in announcing the arena as the host venue, as well as other popular sport in the area. “A couple reasons [for low attendances],” She tweeted.
