By Chris Oddo | Monday February 22, 2016
Salah Tahlak, the tournament director of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and vice president of corporate communications at Dubai Duty Free, has expressed his displeasure with the high number of withdrawals at last week’s event. The tournament lost a number of its hot-ticket players in the lead-up, as Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Lucie Safarova all withdrew due to injury.
The withdrawals led to a chaotic week that made the wrong type of WTA history. For the first time ever at a WTA event, none of the eight seeds won a single match.
In an interview with the Khaleej Times, Tahlak expressed regret about the way things played out in Dubai.
"Yes, we are not happy at all with all the withdrawals.
There were five withdrawals in the women's event. It was not easy, but at the end of the day it's also a serious issue for the WTA because the players will always do what is good for them."
Tahlak said that he spoke with WTA President Steve Simon, and that his sentiments were echoed by him.
"I spoke to the WTA president as well and they were not happy with the withdrawals at the last minute,” he said. “They said they would address this issue at the next board meeting.”