INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The former tournament director at Indian Wells who now runs the WTA Tour calls his successor's critical comments about women's tennis players "disappointing and alarming."
Before Sunday's finals at the BNP Paribas Open, current tournament director Raymond Moore told reporters that the women "ride on the coattails of the men." He later issued a written apology.
Moore's longtime colleague at Indian Wells, Steve Simon, became the WTA's CEO last fall.
"As the tournament director of one of the pre-eminent events in professional tennis, the comments made today by Raymond Moore were extremely disappointing and alarming," Simon said in a statement late Sunday.