Italian Open: WTA’s Materialistic Move Backfires As Elena Rybakina Voices Discomfort Over Physically Taxing Schedule

Stuttgart Open champion Elena Rybakina is in no mood to stay silent. This Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player recently spoke about their misery following WTA’s current rules and scheduling policies. Since WTA Tour chief executive Steve Simon revealed plans to host their finals in Saudi Arabia, tennis players, including fans, are concerned about the WTA’s future. Rybakina’s comments add more fuel to this exclusive debate, hinting at why the majority of tennis players are not happy with WTA’s recent policies.

Rybakina recently spoke about the lengthy WTA 1000 tours. This Kazakh-born Russian tennis player mentioned in a press conference that the extended tournaments and new rules are “wasting energy” of the players. Rybakina who won the title in Rome last year is back at the tour and waiting to unleash her skills this year. In a press conference, this WTA star said, “Yeah, I would say it’s long because it’s kind of boring to stay also, like you do your routines, then it’s becoming a bit boring to really stay too long in these tournaments. I don’t know.”

Rybakina’s statements showed the reality of tennis players attending prestigious tours. The Rome tour started right after the Madrid Open, which is putting a lot of pressure on the tennis players to keep up with their performances and ranks. Despite performing well in the Madrid Open, Rybakina further revealed how she felt tired in her match against Yulina Putintseva at the Madrid Open 2024 quarterfinals.

Last year’s Rome Open winner said, “As I say, I was really tired. I think these tournaments which became so long, it’s not very helpful, I would say, because if you’re fit, you’re fit, you’re going to play every day and the tournament finishes. But to stay in one place for almost two weeks, and it’s not like here you finish and you go rest. You go and you play another mandatory one. That’s definitely not making it easy.” 

Rybakina not only focuses on her challenges but also offers insight into the tight schedules of the WTA players. She said, “With the new rule of change, we have a lot of mandatory stuff where you cannot really choose and pick what you want to play, because, I mean, at some point it’s fair enough that people choose what they want to play or not, because if the tour is good for everyone, then people will want to play.” 

This world’s number-four WTA star revealed how such strict rules are impacting the player’s ambition, which is to secure their top ranks and gain points. However, she feels, “now we kind of in a opposite direction where we have to, because everyone is chasing ranking and everyone is chasing some points and so on. But if it would be open for everyone, then it’s kind of fair enough. You want to play, you play. If you don’t want to play, you don’t play.”

Elena Rybakina’s concerning statement represented the materialistic outlook for the WTA committee. At the same time, it offered fans a glimpse of the committee’s negligence in taking care of their players’ well-being and performances. However, alongside Elena Rybakina, her colleague Daria Kasatkina also took a stand against this hectic WTA tour schedule.

Frustrated Daria Kasatkina speaks about the WTA players’ mental health with their strict tour scheduling

Not only Rybakina but Russian WTA star Daria Kasatkina expressed a similar disappointment with WTA’s recent tour rules and scheduling. In a press conference during the Abu Dhabi Open, Kasatkina showed her anger over WTA’s unacceptable practice and said, “I have a question, I don’t know to who, to WTA or the tournaments, like are you guys trying to make players die or to get injured often. I might have to fly Monday and step on the court the same day after playing five matches here [Abu Dhabi] at the highest level. So, I’m sorry but that’s something we have to talk about and consider,”

Daria Kasatkina’s statement echoed what Elena Rybakina had to say about this one after another tournament schedule. While their opinion concerned fans thinking of a legitimate problem, Rybakina aims to “just following the rules and trying to do best out of what” she has.