Caroline Garcia and Iga Świątek recently locked horns for the fourth time during their competitive journey, at the WTA 1000 event in China. In addition to the Polish tennis star’s stunning victory, the blockbuster matchup featuring the two top 10 WTA players caught the attention of the public owing to an off-court controversy.

The highly anticipated China Open quarterfinal encounter got brutally snubbed by a prominent sports television network that preferred to broadcast the Shanghai Masters second-round match between two ATP players. As a result of their ruthless snub, a swarm of fans recently criticized the tennis media channel on social media. Joining the bandwagon is none other than Serena Williams‘ former coach, Rennae Stubbs who also aired her frustrations with a blunt response.

Serena Williams’ former coach lashes out at a prominent tennis television network

Casper Ruud and Yoshihito Nishioka recently squared off at the round of 64 of the ongoing Shanghai Masters. Even though it was an initial round match, the primary stream of the Tennis Channel was showing the ATP Masters 1000 event while the China Open quarterfinal between Caroline Garcia and Iga Świątek was not. Taking heed, a tennis fan took to Twitter to criticize their “strange” decision to not broadcast the matchup between the two top 10 WTA players on their main feed.

He tweeted, “Strange choice to be showing Nishioka vs Ruud on the main Tennis Channel Feed as opposed to Swiatek vs Garcia – a high stakes WTA 1000 QF featuring 2 top 10 players.”

Other users also flocked to the comments section as they lambasted the popular tennis media network for not streaming the WTA quarterfinal match on their main channel. Similarly, another fan commented, “They are showing it on T2 – their 2nd channel offered by Youtube TV & a few other cable providers & also free on Samsung TV Plus for folks with Samsung Smart TVs & mobile devices. It is of course streaming on the Tennis Channel App. But it should have been on their main channel for sure.”

Even the Australian tennis coach Rennae Stubbs joined the flurry of fans in criticizing the Tennis Channel for their brutal snub. She commented, “It’s gross”

While lavishing praise on the three-set thriller between Garcia and Świątek (7-6, 6-7, 1-6), another user vented out his frustrations. He said, “Especially since the girls play amazing tennis”

Another fan asserted that the WTA clash was much more “interesting” while comparing it to the matchup between their male counterparts. He commented, “I can confirm that Swiatek – Garcia would be way more interesting, Nishioka is just not playing atm”

Meanwhile, one of the fans deemed it a case of discrimination as she tweeted, “Oh I can’t even watch bc they got early rounds of Shanghai on Tennis Channel….I’m so done this shit is so sexist 🧍🏾 “

The fan further lashed out at the Tennis Channel for streaming an early-round ATP match instead of showing a WTA quarterfinal encounter that has “big implications”.

READ MORE- Tennis Commentator Brutally Called Out by Former Serena Williams’ Coach After His Blunder During Iga Swiatek’s Tokyo Open Encounter

She tweeted, “They really decided to put on early rounds of a ATP 500 on Tennis Channel than the Quarterfinals of a 1000 WTA that has big implications of who qualifies for WTA Finals…?”

What do you think of the legendary coach joining the fans in their criticism of the prominent tennis television network? Let us know in the comments section.

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