Many Czech players are feeling cheated by the schedule of both the Women’s Singles and Doubles Tennis tournaments. Despite their high ranking in world leaderboards, they mostly have to play on the less equipped tennis court in Tokyo, which lies in the back of the Tennis grounds at the Tokyo Olympics. That means that they don’t have access to advanced refereeing technology, such as the Eagle Eye, a camera system which allows the referee of the match to check where the ball has landed with pinpoint accuracy. Thus faulty decisions can be overruled, which leads to a fairer match. Furthermore, the schedule of their matches not favouring one of the tournament’s favourites. Some even argue that it is intentionally designed to prevent their success. For example, Kateřina Siniak, one of our Doubles players, was visibly enraged when she learned that after winning a match at 20:30 on Tuesday, they will have to play in the tournament’s quarter-finals within 17 hours. In a high-stakes tournament like this, athletes want to give their best, but without sufficient rest, it is impossible. Since the final is on Sunday anyway, nothing would change if they were to play later in the day on Wednesday, or even later in the week, she elaborated, clearly saddened by the organization of the tournament. Other players, including Karolína Plíšková, the 7th best Women’s Singles Tennis player in the world, shared similar thoughts, often agreeing that the tournament seems to be rushed, without any particular reason.
