Women’s tennis tour seeks ‘meaningful improvements’ to tournament schedule by 2027 – The Athletic
The women’s tennis tour has launched a new council designed to provide “actionable” changes to its tournament calendar and rules by the start of the 2027 season.
WTA Tour chair Valerie Camillo sent a letter to players and tournament organizers Tuesday, later issued as a news release, in which she announced the Tour Architecture Council. It will review when events are held, the rules around which tournaments are mandatory and the penalties for players that miss those events.
World No. 5 Jessica Pegula of the United States will be the lead player representative on a 13-person panel, which will immediately focus on “areas where the WTA has direct authority to drive change,” the letter said.
That will likely circumscribe change to rules surrounding the tour’s WTA 250 and 500 events, as well as the four WTA 1000 events, one rung below the Grand Slams, that are not combined with the ATP Tour’s events of the same category: the Qatar Open, the Dubai Tennis Championships, the China Open and the Wuhan Open. The ATP runs a China Open tournament concurrently with the WTA’s in late September and early October, but it is a 500-level event.
There are 10 WTA 1000 events in total, and all 10 are mandatory. Players receive zero rankings points if they withdraw, even with a reason; fines are imposed on those who do not have a reason or who withdraw after a certain time without fulfilling certain promotional obligations. Women’s players must also play six 500-level events per season; men’s players must play four. There are nine ATP Masters 1000 events, and eight are mandatory.
Most of those events on both tours have recently expanded from one week to twelve days, which players say further intensifies their schedule and the tours say brings in significant improvements in prize money and bonuses.
13 players have withdrawn immediately before, or retired from, this week’s WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships, out of a 56-player field. The Qatar Open was the week immediately prior, with just one week between the start of that tournament and the end of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of each year.
“Over my first 90 days, there has been a clear sentiment across the Tour that the current calendar does not feel sustainable for players given the physical, professional and personal pressures of competing at the highest level,” Camillo said.
The tennis calendar has been the subject of anger and disillusionment from top players for some time. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and world No. 2 Iga Świątek have called the schedule “insane” and “a madness” respectively; both of them withdrew from the Dubai Tennis Championships. On the men’s side, there have been similar complaints, with world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz saying in September 2024 that tennis’ schedule meant that “probably they are going to kill us in some way.”
Camillo said the new council “will focus first on areas where the WTA has direct authority to drive change, while also identifying longer-term opportunities that will require broader coordination across the sport”.
“I look forward to working together to make informed and aligned decisions that support our athletes and the long-term strength of women’s tennis,” she added.
