It is really a disappointing that it was planned so tightly in time with the Europe smash. Those with just a few days of time shift will may have problems with competing at their highest level. Calderano will have an advantage if he is there earlier than the others - smart thinking.
That's why the US Smash and the 2 subsequent Contenders in South America should've been held back-to-back to give the top players a week to regroup ahead of the Champions in Yokohoma.
Isn't it so that the smash and champions are obligatory for the top ranked but not the contender?
Tbf the players in Yokohama wouldn't be in the Qualifying draw for the Smash, so they have a few more days. Still a lot of continent switches at this point in the schedule, that's a bit rough. My guess is that for Hugo the factor wasn't how close it is to Europe Smash, but that he wants to stay in Brazil for a while after the Star Contender, i mean how often can he be there otherwise.
After the protests WTT did change some rules, including getting to skip 2 champions without penalty.
Since 2025/4/1, Grand Smash is now by invitation (2 days to make free cancellation) and no longer mandatory, and players get 2 annual exemptions for Champions which is still mandatory.
"No, I canceled Yokohama as soon as registration opened, so no, I won't be playing," he said. The Star Contender in Foz ends on Sunday (August 3) and the WTT Champions Yokohama 2025 starts on Thursday (August 7). There's little time between the two competitions, with the trip to the Japanese city taking an average of 30 hours from Brazil. "I also thought it was important to have this time and not have such a long trip. It's not easy to travel 30, 40 hours from here to Japan to participate in a competition," he added.
Quite a few empty seats next to me… the session is long and some people don’t mind showing up late (or leave early ?)
