Elena Rybakina, 24, suggests Madrid and Rome being two-week tournaments just before the French Open makes no sense at all as the 2022 Wimbledon champion has once again spoken out against the scheduling and calendar and warned the WTA that more players could be ending their careers early like Ashleigh Barty if this trend continues.
Starting this year, both WTA 1000 clay tournaments – Madrid and Rome – are two-week long events and scheduled to take place between April 23 – May 19th.
Rybakina, who delivered some harsh criticism on the WTA and their scheduling last year, thinks all of this is not benefiting players at all as playing two two-week tournaments leading up to a Grand Slam can compromise players’ health, rest and recovery plans. Also, Rybakina highlighted that having more mandatory tournaments and basically being forced to play when not feeling so is not helping either.
In Madrid, Rybakina had a first-round bye and she played her opening match only on April 26nd. Since then, Rybakina has won four more matches and she has been through to the semifinal, where she faces Aryna Sabalenka tonight.
Against Yulia Putintseva on Wednesday, No. 4 seed Rybakina didn’t look like her usual self but…
