Karolina Pliskova has aimed at the lack of charismatic players and recognizable personalities in women’s tennis after Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
Pliskova started a harsh attack against the status of women’s tennis today, taking digs at her modern peers and asserting that they are unable to get the same level of attention as Williams and Sharapova.
She expressed her thoughts in a recent interview: “Our situation is not very good, even though some of the best in the world have a lot to offer. I am not going to evaluate the tennis aspects, but I think that if something is missing today, it is charismatic stars, personalities that go beyond the courts and are marketing products in themselves.”
Although she believes the WTA hasn’t done enough to promote its players, she also believes that when the multi-Grand Slam champions were attracting attention, the problems weren’t as apparent.
Pliskova continued: “The WTA does not contribute anything to generating that; they are not promoting our sport or the rivalries that could be generated, clashes of personalities, etc. When Serena and Sharapova competed, the general conditions for everyone were much better. There was more sponsorship, more attention, more people in the stands, and the interest was greater.”
Pliskova’s remarks dismissed the fact that several WTA players have managed to effectively promote themselves and land certain brand endorsements. At the young age of 21, Raducanu already has sponsorships from Porsche, Tiffany & Co., Dior, and British Airways.
She added: “This has to change and there is a WhatsApp group in which some talk and propose changes. I’m not going to get into that; I get the feeling that any modification to the status quo is going to take a long time and require a lot of energy to improve things. I’m no longer at the beginning of my career; this is totally beyond me.”
Karolina Pliskova says WTA doesn't promote the sport well and that you can't compare the players of today to Serena Williams & Maria Sharapova:
“I feel that it’s not entirely ideal, even though each of today’s top girls has something to offer. I won’t comment on the tennis, but… pic.twitter.com/k65lX9UDfe
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) December 18, 2023
Karolina Pliskova in 2023
Currently ranked no.38, the Czech played her last match on the 18th of September when she was overcome by world no.131 Hailey Baptiste 7-6(5) 5-7 7-6(4) in the 2nd round in Guadalajara (draw).
Presently, during this year the Czech has achieved a 22-19 match record.
Emma Raducanu in 2023
WWWLWWLLWW Ranked no.299, the Brit played her last match on the 18th of April when she lost to world no.13 Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-1 in the 1st round in Stuttgart (draw).
At the moment, during this season Emma has a compiled 5-5 match record.
Karolina Pliskova and Emma Raducanu have never clashed against each other.
