Different continents, a lower tier that would historically have limited the top players who could play in either event if not for this Olympic year exemption, and Olympic qualification events on both continents that make the events more accessible to players already on those continents - to me, it is good. More opportunities to fit into the schedules of players that are already travelling quite a bit.
Yeah, I was thinking more players get to compete which is obviously good. Just wonder if there is any drawback I can't think of.
That is interesting - might just be to preserve energy for singles play though. I think we sometimes underestimate the toll playing in multiple events at once can have on players because they do it so relatively well.
they should have 2 smash or champions at the same time too.
Champions wouldn't work since that's supposed to be the top 32 and it would be weird to have two "grand slams" at the same time. No sport does that, right? More feeders and contenders at the same time in different places would be good though I think.
A better and still imperfect analogy is probably Masters 1000 events but I agree with you 100%. On the whole, I am not a fan of the exclusive nature of the Champions events, I think that events should not be limited to only top 32 or so players, there should always be an element of qualification beyond ranking built into the process
