Aryna Sabalenka thinks there shouldn’t be tournaments in February after the Australian Open (Image: Getty)
Aryna Sabalenka has shared her wish to see a stretch of tournaments in February removed from the WTA Tour schedule. Shortly after the Australian Open, there are back-to-back WTA 1000s in Doha and Dubai, as well as a host of other smaller 500 and 250-point events. The WTA 1000s are mandatory, putting a strain on the top players who directly get a spot in the draw based on their ranking.
This year, there was just a week between the end of the Aussie Open and the start of the Qatar Open in Doha. There were fewer than two weeks between the end of the Dubai Championships and the start of Indian Wells, leaving the players who competed in all four events with little time to rest.
The WTA has already created a Tour Architecture Council, headed by world No. 5 Jessica Pegula, which will review improvements which can be made to the calendar, with some to be implemented as early as next year.
Sabalenka skipped Doha and Dubai this year and already knows she’ll be penalised with a loss of ranking points later in the season as a result. Now, she wants to see them cancelled altogether – or at the very least, no longer be mandatory.
Asked what she’d like to see change off the back of the creation of the new council, the world No. 1 said: “It’s a tough question. Me, personally, I wouldn’t have any tournaments in February after Australian Open, but it’s all, you know, scheduling is such a tough thing. I would just take off this mandatory situation, because if you go far in one tournament, you just physically, it’s not good for health to go and play another one because it’s mandatory.
“I would just take off this mandatory situation and then let the player choose where they want to compete and play, because if you make it far, the Australian Open, it’s too soon to play Middle East swing. So I feel like the mandatory situation, it’s too much, like, we got to just (lower) that number. It’s too much.”
Aryna Sabalenka is through to the last eight in Indian Wells (Image: Getty)
Sabalenka has benefited from the rest she took in February. The four-time Major winner lost in the final of the Australian Open on January 31 and did not play again until her opening match in Indian Wells on March 6. She’s reached the quarter-finals without dropping a set, and beat fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka on Tuesday.
“I’m super happy with the performance today, the way I brought variety on court, that I made her guess most of the times, and of course happy with the serves, so I felt like it was a great performance for me,” she said after clinching a 6-2 6-4 victory.
As for playing a fellow multi-Slam winner and former No. 1, Sabalenka added: “I don’t think about this kind of stuff going to the match. I just focus on myself, focus on the game plan that I have, and this is what I learn with experience that you better leave this stuff outside of the tennis court, and you go out there, and you do your best. That’s what I’m focusing on.”
The top seed in Indian Wells will now face either Amanda Anisimova or Victoria Mboko for a place in the last four. “I love that they are aggressive, I feel that both of them are fighters. I played a lot of matches against Amanda, just ones against Mboko, but it’s been tough battles against both. It’s been really aggressive tennis. It’s been fun playing both. I’m super excited facing, doesn’t matter who’s gonna win the match,” she smiled.
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