WOMEN’S tennis is facing a crisis with established tournaments threatening to withdraw their financial backing unless players can be persuaded to show greater commitment and not devalue events by mass no-shows.

After box-office names like world no.1 Serena Williams, new Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and WTA Finals winner Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew from the Dubai Duty Free Championships before not one of the remaining eight seeds managed to win a match, the epidemic spread to this week’s Qatar Total Open. Kerber lost early along with fellow top-ten players Petra Kvitova, Garbine Muguruza and Belinda Bencic.

Now Salah Tahlak, the Dubai tournament director and a prominent member of the WTA’s Tournament Council has fiercely criticised the women’s star players for a ‘lack of commitment’ and has