With the 2021 WTA Finals fast approaching, now would be an opportune time to take a look at those individuals who could be sadly missed from this year’s edition of the competition.
Of course, fans have had to wait a while to be able to see the event take place once again on the women’s tennis calendar as the 2020 edition of the tournament was unfortunately scrapped due to circumstances beyond anybody’s control.
However, with the competition set to take place over the course of a week in November (10-17) and scheduled to take place at the Panamerican Tennis Center in Guadalajara, Mexico, there will be plenty who will be waiting with anticipation to be able to see some of the world’s best female stars compete.
Indeed, there will be a number of enthusiasts who will be looking to find the best tennis betting odds available to them this November as the WTA Finals provides a competitive environment, although they may be disappointed to see that there could be a couple of notable absentees from the line-up that would have likely been classed as potential winners.
Amongst the possible absentees in Guadalajara, the World Number 1, Ashleigh Barty, is one individual that is expected to stay away from the competition, whilst World Number 10, Naomi Osaka, is another.
Ashleigh Barty
As mentioned, Ashleigh Barty is currently ranked as the world’s best female tennis player on the WTA Tour, however it would seem the Australian will not bless fans with an appearance in Mexico for the major event.
The Aussie had last played a competitive tennis match at the 2021 US Open in which she was on the end of a shock defeat to American Shelby Rogers, in the Third Round of the competition.
Barty had decided to miss the tour’s “unofficial fifth Grand Slam”, the Indian Wells, in October thus suggesting that her season could already be over and that she is looking ahead to 2022.
Indeed, it would be hard to begrudge the 25-year-old from taking a break as she has managed to enjoy a huge amount of success whilst competing on the tour this season. Her first success of the 2021 season was with a win at the WTA Melbourne 500 in her native home, before acquiring her fifth title at the Cincinnati Masters 2021.
She has been noted to have been spotted back in Australia recently, which has fuelled the speculation around her potential absence from the WTA Finals in Mexico, with many feeling it is unlikely that she will look to defend her title.
Naomi Osaka
Barty, though, is not likely to be the biggest absentee from the 2021 WTA Finals in Guadalajara as Naomi Osaka is also likely to give the tournament a miss in November.
Like the Australian, the Japanese-American decided to skip the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells event as she looked to continue her own self-imposed break from the intense tennis schedule.
A former World Number 1, she also went out in the Third Round of the US Open after being surprised by Leyla Fernandez – the eventual runner-up of the Grand Slam – and admitted that she did not know when she would play again.
This came off the back of her very public admission that she has struggled with mental health issues and had been dealing with a number of different and difficult challenges whilst on and off the tennis court.
After withdrawing from the Indian Wells competition, it really would not be a surprise to see Osaka miss the WTA Finals this year and make a return to the court at the beginning of 2022 instead.