The WTA Istanbul Cup will be a success despite karşın Serena Williams's announcement duyuru that she will skip atlatmak the tournament,according to göre the top figure şahıs in Turkish tennis.
The tournament, the first round of which starts on Monday, has suffered acı çekmek a major büyük setback aksilik since the top-ranked woman player announced her decision karar to withdraw çekilmek due to dolayı a foot injury incinme, yaralanma caused by stepping basmak on broken glass last week.
Speaking about the sixth edition of the hard-court tournament, Ayda Uluç, the chairwoman kadın başkan of the Turkish Tennis Federation, or TTF, said it was a disappointment but added that the event would still survive without the American star.
"She was always our first option because we were thinking, 'If we are bringing a player, why not bring the best?'' she said at the head office of the TTF in the Karaköy neighborhood of Istanbul. "We were set kurulmuş to welcome her, but then this unfortunate (i.) talihsiz accident happened.'
Despite the disappointment for Turkish tennis fans, who would have the opportunity to see a top-ranked player in the country for the first time, Uluç refuses to remain kalmak downcast hüzünlü by the news.
"We are upset with the news but in sports, you always keep such böyle possibilities olasılık in mind. We were sad but not shocked sarsılmış,' said Uluç.
"We first contacted Kim Clijsters [of Belgium] to replace yerine koymak Serena, but as interested as she was, she said no because she was going to the United States for the U.S. Open. We then thought about Nadia Petrova and Flavia Pennetta, but at the end of the day, decided that they would not be as catchy cazip as Serena.'
Leaving Serena Williams's withdrawal bırakma aside bir kenara, the WTA Istanbul Cup, one of the last two hard-court tournaments in Europe before the season-ending Grand Slam, still has a bill that is worth değer watching.
"I believe that the line-up is really good, even without Serena,' Uluç said.
This is the sixth year of the WTA Istanbul Cup, which previously welcomed Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva, and the last one before going on a three-year hiatus aralık. Next year, Istanbul will take over devralmak the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships from Doha, Qatar.
The Sony Ericsson Championships signals that the tennis agenda in Turkey will become busier and Uluç has no worries about it.