Serena Williams is not getting younger, wants light schedule - Stuttgart
In an exclusive interview with Tennis World USA, the WTA Stuttgart Tournament Director Markus Gunthard commented on the reasons why Serena Williams never played the German event. "She is not getting any younger and she doesn't want to play many tournaments. We are the first clay tournament in Europe so that may be too early. She will play in Rome prior to the French Open and unfortunately, we cannot have her", said Gunthardt.
On the goals of the event, he added: "We don't have a goal to become a big tournament, our goal is to constantly improve the tournament on all areas and our philosophy is to be perfect but nobody is perfect. There is not a finish line and there is always a possibility to improve. We want to improve every year, be the best tournament in the world and get the best players here."
Could it be the last year in Sharapova's career? "Maria does not want to finish like this but she wants to finish in style playing well and winning a big tournament again and she would deserve it, but I have no idea how long she wants to keep playing. Next year it's the Olympic year so I imagine she would like to play the Olympics again but I am not close enough to her to know something. It's just my imagination."
Asked if Naomi Osaka will play at day in Stuttgart in order to get most viewers from Japan, Gunthardt replied: "We haven't discussed it yet but my main priority is not Japan, it's the arena and next week a lot of people will be working during the day so many of them will come at night. The priority is the people who pay tickets to come here."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2W0vxDR
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