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Starting from the WTA tournaments in Tokyo, tennis players will benefit from a rule that has been blocked for a few years but is back in vogue in Japan. The tennis players who reached the final or semi-final in the previous tournament will be able to have the Bye, even to the detriment of tennis players with a better ranking.
At the Tokyo tournament it happened that Caroline Garcia and Maria Sakkari had the Bye while Elena Rybakina, winner of Wimbledon 2022 and finalist in Australia this year, played a first round match. This was not particularly welcome also because according to Rybakina it was a last-minute change.
Through a harsh Instagram post, Elena made interesting statements and practically called the WTA leaders a clown, using this emoji at the end of the text: “Thank you for the rule changes at the last moment. Fantastic decision – as always – by of the WTA.” A controversy that is causing quite a bit of discussion in these hours and which sees several tennis players, especially in the top positions, quite annoyed.
The women’s circuit is dealing with a new important controversy, and we will see if there will be a response to the controversy from the federation.
