Karolína Muchová won the first WTA 1000 tournament of her career in Qatar on Saturday, February 14. This was her first title since 2019, when she defeated the Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko in the finals, who had shown impressive form throughout the week.
Brad Gilbert Explains Why Victoria Mboko and Karolína Muchová Should Have Competed in Dubai
Right after their championship match in Doha, both players were supposed to reach Dubai to participate in the scheduled WTA 1000 tournament. To everyone’s surprise, both the finalists withdrew from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, adding their names to the long list of withdrawals and retirements.
Now, days after their withdrawals, Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, has taken issue with their decision, explaining why they should’ve competed in Dubai.
Muchová defeated Mboko 6-4, 7-5 in straight sets in Doha to lift her first WTA 1000 title in just over 90 minutes. The Czech player took the first set comfortably; however, after being broken early in the second set, she had to raise her game and break the Canadian twice to win the match. Despite losing the title, Mboko made her WTA Top-10 debut, marking the first time in many years that there are two teenagers in the women’s top-10 list alongside Mirra Andreeva.
Despite being in exceptional form, both players decided to withdraw from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, with the Czech citing a scheduling change and the Canadian citing a right elbow injury. She took on multiple top-ranked players during the tournament, including Andreeva and the 2026 Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, showing her impressive form.
Talking about these withdrawals, Gilbert stated that these players should have competed in the tournament, explaining, “Going into Dubai, both Mboko and Muchová, they pull out. And this is the coach in me. I would be telling my player, ‘Listen, you’re playing well. This is a single-week tournament, a good opportunity to make points right now. Play.”
The coach wasn’t happy with the Qatar winner, who just won 1000 ranking points, and had a chance to boost her position on the WTA list even further. Focusing on the Czech, Gilbert said, “So, I feel like players pull out a little bit too easily after one week, and especially if I were Muchová, the way she’s playing, I’d find a way to be in Dubai.”
Gilbert then explained the reason behind his thought process, stating, “When you’re playing well, it’s a lot easier to find wins and play well the next week. When you’re struggling and losing, you find losses. So, there are a lot of sections of the season, and sometimes they don’t go as well. But when you’re going good, I feel why skip a tournament?”
Since both tournaments were played on the same surface and under similar conditions, Gilbert thought it would have been easier for Muchová to win a few matches, if not reach as deep, and gain more ranking points, given that the tournament was just a week long. During the first three months, the WTA Calendar is overcrowded with essential tournaments, making it very difficult for players to maintain form and perform well without injury. This has been the main reason behind multiple withdrawals, preventing their bodies from excessive fatigue.
The entire Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships were hit by numerous withdrawals even before the tournament began. World’s top two-ranked players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Świątek, pulled out of the tournament just two days before the main draw commenced. The Belarusian cited a hip injury as the reason, whereas the Pole cited a schedule change as the reason for withdrawal.
MORE: Alexandra Eala Reveals What She Thinks of Coco Gauff Ahead of Their Dubai QF Battle
However, these reasons weren’t welcomed by the tournament director, Salah Tahlak, who demanded strict action against both players, not just financial penalties, but also ranking-point penalties. Shockingly, 25 of the original 43 players who entered the main draw either withdrew or retired by Wednesday, February 18. The condition is so bad that Antonia Ružić, who lost her first qualifier match, was called up as a lucky loser to compete in the main draw, and she is now in the quarterfinals and will face the seventh seed Elina Evitolina today, February 19.
In the quarterfinals, Jessica Pegula defeated the 12th seed Clara Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in three sets to reach the semifinals, whereas Gauff will take on the Filipino sensation Alexandra Eala later in the evening. The top-ranked American, Amanda Anisimova, will take on Andreeva in hopes of reaching the semifinals.
Everyone should skip that tournament due to modern day slavery and other gross human rights violations. Always money over morals.