Nope, would've been impossible to have a round robin then. And every "all elite" tourney must've RR system. That's how you eliminate the "luck of draw" or whatever. Like the WTA finale where WS in RR format but WD is straightaway best of 8 which makes it as good as any other normal tourney in WD case. A player may find one as an easier opp as compared to others you know.
I don't get your point. In the top 8, there's 2 groups of 4 each, if top 16, we can have 4 groups of 4 each, all i round-robin format. In the Olympics, even more groups. At most, introduce an extra round for the QFs. Apparently, there're pros and cons in both formats, just that I prefer to have the top 16 to make it more competitive and representative of the best in the world contesting to make it worthy of a SS Finals, the grand finale that it's touted to be. Otherwise,it more often than not ended up an anticlimax, what with some players already feeling fatigue playing the whole year long and be expected to be at their best in the very last and final tournament.
The reason behind its 8 not 16 maybe due to prize money limitation. You need to provide more money available to have more contestants joining. To increase the competitive feels while staying with 8 contestants, we could use only round robin (no group at all)... and each player must playing against all 7 others players like WTA/ATP World Tour Finals
Seven rounds to determine the winner based on number of matches, sets and points tiebreaker without SFs and Final, that is, two extra rounds ? Then I'd rather have top 16 of 4x4 groups where the top two in each group progress to the QFs, for a max of six rounds for the finalists.
Yeah, off-course AND $2,000,000 (twice as current prize money), still too far from ATP World Tour Finals' prize money $7,500,000 And another WHY behind the 8 is the way player's motivation to reach top 8 to gain entry right. Compare to top-16, the player/pairs only need to be inside the best 16 achievers in SS levels.
the price money determine by very much, how much the fans willing to pay for the tickets. BWF-SSF tickets only cost 25 dirham and ITF-SSF cheapest ticket cost minium 200, and that's watching 1 match, BWF 25 is for whole day ! for 25 dirham / USD7, fans can watch 20 matches for 300 dirham/ USD80 tennis fans watch 1 match. so the maths tell you, how much the players worth
Both ATP n WTA have 2 groups each. Actually I agree to his point, all the players participating have qualified by the virtue of their consistency which in turn means loads of tourneys. Having 7 group matches then 2 SF and 1 F will be too much too handle. Which is why groups are made and imo this is the best format achievable practically taking both money and time in consideration.
I see where you're coming from, except that it's from the player's point of view. As for the tournament organizer and sponsors, esp Dubai which boasted of hosting world class sporting events and paying high bids for them, I'd have thought they want maximum mileage in attracting all the best of the best including highly popular players to ensure its success in drawing huge crowds and viewership for widespread pubilicity. Imagine,had Lee CW chose to skip the CHN Open or was knocked out in the early rounds and ended outside the top 8, we would have the so-called Grand Finale without both LCW and Chen Long (not to mention Lin Dan) , thus substantially diminishing the status, prestige and attractive power of the SSF, possibly much to the displeasure and hurting the marketing campaign of the organizer and big sponsors, an anticlimax in effect for the most lucrative prize-money marquee event. I guess, things don't always go the way we want in life. The best of plans can go awry but not having a well-thought-out plan in place with contingencies to begin with only make matters worse.
How many of the top 8 players/pairs are actually competing in lots of SS tourneys (GPG/GP don't count) and performed consistently enough ? If the organizer and sponsors want to ensure the SSF is a box office hit, they will gather all the players the crowd and TV viewers (subscribers) are willing to pay money to watch for maximum results in attaining their projected goals, such as ticket sales, tourists arrivals, sport promotion, achieving marketing targets, enhancing the reputation and attraction of Dubai itself, among others.
I'm saying prize money off course related to SSF as a part of SS Level, not major event. BWF Major Event offer no prize money. In short terms we can say SSF as the compliment for the players after the SS tournaments achievements. That's all.
By consistency I was referring to the number of tourneys you participate and the how well you're doing, that is gathering to points to overtake your opp. Well there's a provision for the "elite" players to attend a specific no. Of SS needless to say the PSS are mandatory (or else they pay, which doesn't make to most of their lists). If you keep aside the OG year (where I agree players deserve rest after giving all they have in the extravaganza) almost all of 'em do participate in many. Some more then others though. The second para is true, but as aforementioned by you we are talking from a player's perspective. Anyway let's enjoy the TV coverage.
Obviously, the highly lucrative prize money in tennis is the main driver for its huge success for which every professional, and mostly independent, player will strive hard to get a spot in any of the four gram slams annually where just a R1 win can net s/he as much as USD20K, and the eventual winner, up to USD2 mil.
Finally got the answer Source: http://bwfbadminton.com/2016/12/14/bwf-announces-integrity-ambassadors/ BWF Integrity Ambassadors: • Saina Nehwal • Viktor Axelsen • Christinna Pedersen • Misaki Matsutomo • Ayaka Takahashi