Marketa Vondrousova echoes calls for WTA CEO Steve Simon to resign and for change in leadership

Marketa Vondrousova has echoed Martina Navratilova's calls for the chief executive of the WTA Steve Simon to resign following a turbulent season culminating in disappointment at the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun.

The reigning Wimbledon champion made her WTA Finals debut this year but was one of several players to voice her concerns after players were unable to access the Estadio Paradisus until a day before the tournament and were then confronted with difficult court conditions.

"My first WTA Finals is not at all what I imagined. We worked hard all year to get to the Finals and in the end it’s just a disappointment," the Czech player wrote on social media at the time. The World No. 6 was later eliminated in the round-robin stage after losing all three of her matches against Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, and Coco Gauff.

As the tournament progressed, there were also several issues with rain delays that postponed multiple matches. Thus, 18-time Grand Slam champion Navratilova, who is working as a commentator at the event, criticized the WTA and suggested that Simon should resign.

"Maybe it’s time for new leadership. But 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’s plenty of them that are qualified for the job. It’s gonna be hard for Steve to stay in the job. Everything is pointing the other way.

"It shouldn’t have come that late in the year, making this decision [to host the WTA Finals in Cancun]. There was a sequence of bad decisions. Ultimately, Steve Simon has been the boss for nine years and here we are… 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," she said.

The quotes were then shared online by The Tennis Letter, which Vondrousova screenshotted and posted on her Instagram Story, expressing her support for a change in leadership.