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Daria Kasatkina says the decision to downgrade Eastbourne to a WTA250 event ‘sucks’.
The move to make Queen’s a WTA500 event came at Eastbourne’s expense.
“That sucks, honestly. I don't understand this decision.” reigning champion Kasatkina said.
“I think Eastbourne is one of the oldest tournaments we've got on tour. It's like the tournament with a big history. As I remember, it was always a 500, so it's a very nice tournament, and I just didn't see the reason to downgrade to 250, honestly.
“There’s always quite a good field, all the players coming here. Plus it was super convenient to go from here to London after, everything was great, I don't know. And also I honestly don't understand why, like, by the rules, it just would be two 500s in the same week.
“Also, you know Bad Homburg, it's a very good tournament as well, so I think they deserve to be 500, but, you know, not for the price of another good tournament being downgraded.
"So I think this is one of the issues, because for example, on the ATP side, there's no problem to have two 500s in the same week. I honestly don't see why it's the problem.”
