What. A. Mess.

Okay, so “today” (I use the term loosely during the Asian Swing) we had Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic all contesting finals in Beijing. And yet, when I woke up, the biggest tennis drama wasn’t even on that continent.

Instead, it was all the way over at the small WTA International event in Linz, Austria.

First, let’s go back to simpler times. Yesterday. Before the draw was made, Petra Kvitova pulled out of the tournament with back problems, which was obviously a shame for everyone involved. I can’t find an old PDF of the draw, because presumably the WTA scrubbed them all from the Internet, but according to Tennis Forum, this is what the draw looked like:

Stephens(1) vs Rybarikova

Petkovic vs Meusburger

Moser(WC) vs Voegele

Knapp vs Hantuchova(7) Flipkens(4) vs Wickmayer

Ka. Pliskova vs Schiavone

Begu vs Q

Beck vs Cibulkova(6) Zakopalova(8) vs Vekic

Goerges vs Q

Svitolina vs Barthel

Q vs Suarez Navarro(3) Cirstea(5) VS Mayr-Achleitner(WC)

Q vs Q

Cadantu vs Klaffner(WC)

Niculescu vs Ivanovic(2)

As you can see, Sloane Stephens was the top seed (her first time), Ana Ivanovic was the No. 2 seed, and overall it just looked like a decent International event, but nothing really to write home about. The biggest story of the tournament was Stephens trying to get to her first WTA final and trying to earn enough points to qualify for Istanbul.

But then, madness ensued.

Angelique Kerber got a last-minute WC. A VERY last-minute WC, considering THE DRAW HAD ALREADY BEEN MADE. According to everything I have ever known as a tennis fan and everything I could find in the rule book today, WCs are supposed to be locked by the time the qualifying draw is made on Friday.

So now, here is what the draw looks like:

(2)Stephens vs Rybarikova

Petkovic vs Meusburger

Zakopalova vs Voegele

Knapp vs (8)Hantuchova (3)Ivanovic vs Wickmayer

Ka. Pliskova vs Schiavone

Begu vs Q/LL

Beck vs (7)Cibulkova (5)Flipkens vs Vekic

Goerges vs Q/LL

Svitolina vs Barthel

Q/LL vs (4)Suarez Navarro (6)Cirstea vs (wc)Mayr-Achleitner

Q/LL vs Q/LL

Cadantu vs (wc)Klaffner

Niculescu vs (1/wc)Kerber

Yes. Mess. Let’s focus in on the bottom part of the official “revised” WTA draw to start breaking down everything that is wrong with this situation.

1. In order to give Kerber a WC, someone else had to go. That “someone” was local player Lisa-Maria Moser, No. 337.

The official reason on the draw sheet for Moser pulling out was “personal reasons,” which is completely ridiculous because it is 100% clear that the only reason she withdrew from the tournament was because the tournament officials made her do it.

Moser: "This is obviously a shame for me, but I can understand. A top-10 player is very important for the tourney, I cannot blame anyone." — Romi Cvitkovic (@RomiCvitkovic) October 6, 2013

After all, according to the Linz website, “As a small compensation Moser occurs in the doubles with a wildcard at the side of Nicole Rottmann.”

So Moser, who was a player representative and looking forward to playing singles in front of her hometown crowd, was sacrificed.

More Linz insanity…after Moser withdrew from singles for "personal reasons," she got a WC into doubles. Was her personal reason loneliness? — Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) October 6, 2013

2. As you can see on the draw, even though Kerber gets the No. 1 seed, she is in the official draw spot of the No. 2 player. So Stephens keeps her perch at the top of the draw, despite the fact that she’s no longer the top seed, and Kerber takes over the bottom. All of this raises the question … what happened to former No. 2 seed Ana Ivanovic?

Well, let’s take a look at the top half of this “revised” draw:

Aaah, there she is! So now, instead of getting a fairly straightforward (It’s Ivanovic, so I mean “straightforward” only in theory) half of the draw to herself, she now has to face Wickmayer in the first round, possibly Schiavone in the second round, Cibulkova in the quarters, and Stephens in the semis. As you can imagine, she was not very happy:

One of those things when you realise you're powerless… No matter what they say! #linzdraw — Ana Ivanovic (@AnaIvanovic) October 6, 2013

Ivanovic just happened to be the player representative for Linz, along with Moser. I sense a mutiny brewing behind the scenes.

3. Another issue that is coming up in all of this is that this will now be the third International tournament that Kerber has entered this year. Since she finished 2012 as a Top 10 player, she is only supposed to be allowed to enter two Internationals.

How is the WTA getting around that?

Reason why Kerber allowed to play 3rd International Series in Linz is cause Carlsbad was oversubscribed so DC didnt count to her allotment — Matt Cronin (@TennisReporters) October 6, 2013

Sure. That seems awfully convenient.

4. The biggest takeaway from all of this for me is: what a difference a day makes. If Kerber had simply taken the WC yesterday before the draw was set, then none of this uproar would have happened.

I'm also not understanding how she got a WC request in by the deadline…when she was still playing in Tokyo. Magic? Carrier pigeons? — Victoria (@unseededlooming) October 6, 2013

(Maybe we just won’t get into that.)

As it stands, everything is technically within the rules, if you squint and pretend that one of the WCs wasn’t forced out of the tournament after the draw was made just to appease the officials.

As our friend Foot Soldiers of Tennis pointed out, according to the WTA rulebook, if a WC withdraws prior to the start of the main draw, then it is within the guidelines that a new WC can be named and a draw can be shuffled accordingly.

So, there you have it. #LinzGate in a nutshell.

We’ll keep you posted if there any further developments.

EDIT:

As I was reminded on Twitter, there is only one draw spot available for a Top 10 player in Internationals, so before Kvitova withdrew, Kerber could not have entered.