Russian player Anna Kalinskaya expressed her dissatisfaction with the schedules established at some WTA tournaments, arguing that these can affect the performance and health of tennis players. She pointed out that competing late into the night and returning to play early the next day does not offer fair conditions for physical recovery.
Kalinskaya was coming off a tough match against Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, which ended at around 12:20 a.m. local time with a score of 3-6, 7-6 (5), and 6-1 in her favor. The match, corresponding to the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, lasted more than two and a half hours.
After attending press conferences, physical recovery, and transportation, the player stated that she was able to go to sleep around 2:00 a.m. Despite this, the organizers scheduled her next match, a quarterfinal match, for 10:00 a.m. the following day against Poland's Iga Swiatek, the tournament's third seed.
Ultimately, the schedule was modified and the match rescheduled for Friday, giving both players additional rest. Kalinskaya insisted that cases like this demonstrate the need to review scheduling criteria to protect the health and performance of the players.
The debate over scheduling on the women's tour has been rekindled by this case, adding to other voices that have called on the WTA for greater flexibility and clearer criteria for scheduling matches, especially in high-demand tournaments with variable weather conditions.
Sources cited:
https://as.com/tenis/masters_1000/linette-echa-a-pegula-y-kalinskaya-sigue-sonando-en-cincinnati-n/