The five most interesting things that happened at WTA Finals Media Day
· Yahoo Sports
The WTA Finals starts Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and Friday was designated as Media Day. It was the first opportunity for reporters to meet with the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams who qualified for the WTA's end-of-the-year event.
Here's a few of the more interesting conversations that were had and things that happened.
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Rybakina bumps media availability
Elena Rybakina re-scheduled her media availability from Friday to Saturday, citing a potential illness. The top-ranked player in the world, who won the WTA Finals last year, is considered a slight favorite to win the event.
Details of Rybakina’s situation were not made available. WTA officials only said that she was “not feeling well.” It could be nothing more than that.
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk is on site here in Indian Wells as the alternate should the Kazakhstani tennis star be unable to play.
Pegula makes light of hot mic
Following an incident earlier this week where Jessica Pegula’s private comments about fellow competitor Mirra Andreeva were picked up on a “hot mic” on the practice courts, the American tennis star made a joke about the situation to start her press conference.
“OK, the mic’s on?” she said, tapping the microphone. “Just wanted to be sure.”
The “hot mic” was part of a practice live stream that was meant to simply record the sound of balls being hit and others sounds that might be heard during a practice session. On the live stream, Pegula was heard referring to Andreeva, a 19-year-old Russian, as a “diva,” among other comments.
The WTA later apologized for not informing players that the practice sessions were being livestreamed. WTA Chair Valerie Camillo specifically apologized to Pegula for the unintended “distraction.”
Gauff comments about midterm elections
American Coco Gauff, 22, has been a bit outspoken about social and political issues in the United States in recent years. She said that she voted this week and was encouraged by the number of younger people who were involved in making their voices heard.
“I think the biggest thing was to see the voter turnout,” Gauff said, “regardless of your views. I think it’s very important for people to exercise their right to vote, especially those in minority communities because theirs a lot of people who fought hard for that to happen.”
Gauff said during a press conference that she voted early in her home state of Florida. She said that she had all of her family members who were registered vote this year.
“The whole family,” she said, “I made sure everyone in my family voted. That’s pretty easy with my family. Always been raised the importance of voting.”
She continued.
“I’m glad that I think there was like voter record turnouts in some parts of the country. I’m very happy to see that, especially amongst my generation,” she said.
Svitolina comments about 'difficult year'
Less than a month after announcing her split from husband and former French tennis star Gaël Monfils, Elina Svitolina was asked about how she’s managed the difficulties of her personal life and her country (Ukraine) being at war.
Svitolina was quite reflective about how she’s handled all of that and is still at the top of her game at the age of 32.
“I’ve had a tough year with different things in my head,” she said. “Very busy year that we have. Living in the public eye is not an easy task. Everything is just up there for people to judge or to comment on.
“Also, I would say it’s a difficult thing to have. But we are people who are playing professionally, and it’s the part of life, of our life.
“I try just to focus on the things that I can control, and day by day try to find my happy moments. For me, there’s no such thing as probably a general happy life because of the things that I have on a daily basis. But the happy moments that I can create with the people around me, it’s things that I can control and live with.”
Sabalenka dishes on her favorite Tour food cities
Aryna Sabalenka, who won the tournament title here at Indian Wells in March, has stated in the past that she’s very strict about her diet prior to matches. But she also describes herself as a bit of a foodie.
So, we asked her what her favorite food cities are on the Tour. Here’s what she said:
“I’m between New York and Rome right now,” she said with a smile. "I love Rome. Who doesn’t like Italian, right?”
“And least favorite? I’d have to say Cincinnati, only because I haven’t had a chance to go into the city and explore restaurants. I’m sure there’s great food there.”
Andrew John covers sports and recreation in California's Coachella Valley at The Desert Sun and the USA Today Network. Email him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The five most interesting things that happened at WTA Finals Media Day