Months after unveiling its new logo, the WTA continues rebranding by updating its website. This happened unexpectedly, without any announcement. Fans suddenly discovered the change, and the consensus is that they’re not happy with it. The main visual difference is the background color, which is now green instead of purple—a change that makes sense since the logo has adopted this color.
Not only does it look different, but it also features a new interface. While there’s still a long way to go to match the flawless ATP website, these updates have significantly improved the visitor experience. It wasn’t difficult to surpass the former outdated website, which lacked many features. However, the WTA managed to launch a better-looking website that is more intuitive, thanks to its layout, which leads to easier navigation.
Unfortunately, some things are missing, others have been removed, and not everything is working properly. Specifically, three issues stand out.
New Look, Old Problems
Ranking History
On the ATP website, if you visit a player’s profile, there are five sections: overview, bio, activity, stats, and ranking. What about the WTA website? It has four sections: overview (which includes the biography), matches (similar to “activity”), stats, and record (Grand Slam record). It’s obvious what’s missing: the ranking history. It has been removed. Even worse, it’s gone from the former website. There’s no way to see a player’s ranking history, including how it changed over the years, the breakdown, and where the points came from.
Head-to-Head
One of the main reasons people visit the official tour websites is to check the head-to-head section. On the ATP website, you get the number of wins and a breakdown of the events: where they took place, the year, the surface, who won, and even the score. On the other hand, the WTA website only shows the head-to-head record; individual matches are not displayed.
Order of Play
The last issue concerns the tournaments section, specifically the order of play. The website only shows the match start times and which matches are scheduled for the day. This isn’t a big issue for WTA-specific tournaments like Stuttgart or Rouen a few weeks ago. However, during combined tournaments like the current Italian Open, it’s problematic. Visitors have no way of knowing whether a women’s match is scheduled before or after a men’s match (including the “not before” times). Unsurprisingly, the ATP website handles this better, showing both men’s and women’s matches in the order of play.
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran – USA TODAY Sports
