2023 Guadalajara Open AKRON receive $350,000 from WTA after myriad of top 10 players withdraw

The official rules of the WTA require them to pay $350,000 to the Guadalajara Open AKRON organization due to the absence of 7 top-10 players in the tournament.

Just two weeks ago, the Guadalajara Open came to a close with Maria Sakkari lifting her first WTA 1000 title and the second of her career, defeating surprise finalist Caroline Dolehide.

The tournament was overshadowed by the consecutive withdrawals of top-10 players who decided to quickly travel to the Asian tour due to their schedules, thus avoiding Mexico.

As a result, only three top-10 players participated in the tournament. These were Ons Jabeur, who was eliminated in the third round, the champion Sakkari, and semifinalist Caroline Garcia.

Recently, it was revealed on social media that, according to WTA rules, the organization must compensate WTA 1000 tournaments for the absence of a certain number of top-10 players.

This depends on whether it is a WTA 1000 Mandatory or Non-Mandatory event, as is the case with Guadalajara. According to the regulations, if at least 7 top-10 players attend, no payments are made. However, the absence of each additional top-10 player incurs a fine.

With the presence of 6 top-10 players, the amount is $100,000, with five players absent, it's $200,000, and with four absent, it's $350,000. The latter is the maximum amount in case more top-ranked players are absent.

Considering the number of absences that the tournament experienced, the WTA will be responsible for covering the amount. The absence of top-10 players results in losses for the organizations, as it makes the tournament less appealing to the audience.

“By the official rules, the WTA was forced to pay last week $350,000 to the Guadalajara organization because of the number of Top 10 players that skipped the event,” some user wrote on X:

"It actually might be even more, because rules don't even include the case in which only 3 Top 10 players attend a non-mandatory 1000"