WTA criticized by fans for 'embarrassing' coverage at United Cup despite Elena Rybakina, Beatriz Haddad Maia bringing star power to Day 1

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) recently came under criticism for their lack of coverage of women's singles matches at the United Cup. The team event started early on Friday (December 27), but the WTA's social media handles didn't post content about the event until Day 1's proceedings were over.

Over the last few months, the WTA has gained an ill reputation for its inability to spotlight the main stars. On Friday, Team Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina and Team Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia, both of whom are top singles players, began their respective campaigns at the United Cup.

However, the X (formerly Twitter) account of WTA didn't cover Rybakina and Haddad Maia's United Cup matches while they were being contested. A fan pointed out the inopportune situation on their handle while imploring the women's governing body to "do a better job."

"22 Hours since the last @WTA tweet. 2 WTA matches played today and nothing from them," they wrote. "Bit embarrassing. #DoABetterJob."

A few other fans, meanwhile, insisted that Tennis TV — the ATP's prime streaming service — was their current go-to for women's tennis coverage at the team event in Australia.

"The way I have to go to tennis TV to watch a Wta match vid… embarrassing," one fan wrote.

"Tennis tv doing more promo is kinda insane," another wrote.

Here are a few more posts from social media:

"I hate them," one fan claimed.

"It's how it was for the last UC too.... in fact actually this might be worse," another fan wrote.

"They posted the 3 hour match and said that’s enough for the next month," one fan alleged.

"We're so back..." another stated sarcastically.

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Elena Rybakina starts United Cup 2025 campaign with victory, Beatriz Haddad Maia suffers surprise defeat

Beatriz Haddad Maia dropped her first match at United Cup 2025 | Image Source: Getty

Elena Rybakina suffered from a variety of physical issues during the 2024 WTA Tour season. However, the World No. 6 set her troubles behind in style at the United Cup on Friday (December 27), getting the better of Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-2, 6-3 in just over an hour.

World No. 17 Beatriz Haddad Maia, meanwhile, was initially supposed to take on the 2024 WTA Finals runner-up Zheng Qinwen in her first match at the team event. However, Zheng was replaced in Team China's women's singles fixture at the last moment by World No. 175 Gao Xinyu, who sprang up a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 upset over the Brazilian.