Serena Williams’ former coach Rene Stubbs recently expressed displeasure with the WTA website being down for maintenance.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) website was temporarily unavailable on Tuesday, October 3 due to “essential maintenance,” according to a message displayed on the homepage.
The WTA website is the official source of information and news for women’s tennis, providing rankings, live scores, player profiles, tournament draws and more. The website outage meant fans and media were unable to access these features and had to rely on other sources or social media for updates.
Former doubles world No. 1 Stubbs complained about the situation on X (formerly Twitter), saying she was trying to promote the sport but the WTA was not helping her. She posted a screenshot of the WTA homepage containing the maintenance message and wrote:
“@WTA I’m working really hard to promote this sport! Can you help me!?”
Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs offers support after Elena Rybakina criticizes WTA performance in Tokyo
Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs recently backed Elena Rybakina over her concerns about the WTA’s decision to compete at the 2023 Toray Pan Expressed dissatisfaction with the way decisions were made after the Pacific Open draw.
The draw for the WTA 500 event in Japan was announced on September 23. Iga Swiatek, ranked second in the world, is the top seed and Rybakina is the third seed. However, while Swiatek received a bye in the first round, Rybakina did not.
On the other hand, Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia, both ranked and seeded lower than Rybakina, received byes in the first round. This is because they performed well at the just-concluded Guadalajara Open.
Rybakina was unhappy with the decision and shared her thoughts on social media.
“Goodbye show. Thanks for changing the rules at the last minute. Great decision as always @wta,” she wrote on Instagram Stories.
Stubbs supported Rybakina on X (formerly Twitter), saying players should have the freedom to decide which tournaments to participate in.
“I 100% agree with Rybakina! You get to choose your schedule. You know what you’re risking and seeded players shouldn’t be hurt by not playing the week before. @wta,” she posted on X said in the post.
Rybakina later withdrew from the event, citing health and fitness reasons.
“I am really sad to have to withdraw from Tokyo this year. I was really looking forward to competing in this event and I love the city. I have to prioritize my health and fitness and it will take time to get to 100% fitness.” Erin Elena Rybakina issued a statement.
Rennae Stubbs serves as on-court advisor for Serena Williams at her final major, the 2022 U.S. Open.