TORONTO, Aug 14: The late withdrawal of leading players from WTA tournaments has reached epidemic proportions, former world No 1 John McEnroe said on Monday.

Thirty years after he played the first of 16 tournaments in Toronto, the fiery McEnroe was still the main attraction on Day One of the Toronto Cup, overshadowing a field including four of the world's top five women players.

“It's an epidemic in the women's game,” McEnroe told reporters. “The men aren't as bad but it certainly has been an issue.

“It's not one person's fault. It's not just the players, so it's not just the tournament's fault, some of it is bad luck.

“But the way it is set up when you play three, four weeks in a row they [players] are sort of thinking they want to peak at the Open.

“So if something happens where that throws that preparation off, then these are the type of tournaments that get burned.”

With players tailoring their US Open preparations, the Toronto Cup is routinely hit hard by late withdrawals and this year was no exception with Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Martina Hingis and Venus Williams all sending their regrets.

Tournaments like Toronto use the Tour's most popular players like Sharapova and the Williams sisters to generate buzz around their event and are left with angry ticket holders when they pull out.

While the Toronto Cup can still boast a top-flight field featuring world No 1 Justine Henin, without Sharapova's glamour or the Williams sisters' charisma the most anticipated match on Monday was a Legends exhibition with McEnroe, Jim Courier, Anna Kournikova and Carling Bassett-Seguso.

“It's unbelievable how much this is happening in the women's game,” said McEnroe. “I don't think there is anyone here that could not say it isn't a big problem. I mean, obviously, Serena hasn't played since Wimbledon, and you'd want her to come play here.”—Reuters