By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
World number Aryna Sabalenka criticizes the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for an ‘insane’ tennis season, highlighting player welfare concerns amid a packed schedule.
Top women’s players are obliged to compete in all four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 tournaments and six WTA 500 events under WTA rules, with the punishment for missing them ranging from rankings points deductions to fines.
Sabalenka and world number two Iga Swiatek were deducted ranking points for not playing enough WTA 500 events last season.
“The season is definitely insane, and you see so many players getting injured,” Sabalenka said after her 6-3 6-3 victory over Sorana Cirstea at the Brisbane International.
“The balls are quite heavy, so it’s a lot of struggle for all of us.”
I’m skipping a couple of events in order to protect my body because I struggled a lot last season,” Sabalenka added.
“Even though the results were really consistent, some of the tournaments I had been playing completely sick or I’ve been really exhausted from overplaying.
“This season we will try to manage it a little bit better, even though they are going to fine me by the end.”
The WTA Tour in September has said player welfare will “always remain a top priority” and and that it had listened to views on the calendar, both through the players’ council and their representatives on the WTA board, to improve the circuit structure in 2024 and boost compensation.