Coco Gauff Reacts to Call for Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to Lose Rankings Points For Withdrawing from Dubai Tournament

Coco Gauff to kick off her Dubai Tennis Championships against Jelena Ostapenko or Emma Navarro.

Coco Gauff Reacts to Call for Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to Lose Rankings Points For Withdrawing from Dubai Tournament

Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek (via X/WTA/Miami Open)

Coco Gauff has dismissed calls for fellow rivals Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to lose ranking points following their late withdrawals from the Dubai Tennis Championships. The Dubai tournament director, Salah Tahlak, endorses the controversial move after stressing that a fine would not be the best punishment.

Swiatek announced her withdrawal from the WTA 1000 tournament last week, citing a schedule change after crashing out in the quarter-finals of the Doha Open. World No.1 Sabalenka, who didn’t feature in Doha, declared that she’s yet to fully recover from a hip injury, which will force her not to play in Dubai.

The two biggest stars in the women’s circuit withdrawing from the Middle East tournament is surely a huge blow for organizers, as they have to call on players who were not on the entry list or qualifying to make late preparations for the tournament. While players who were not seeded for the event will receive a seeded place.

On Sunday (February 15), the Dubai Tennis Championships director described the withdrawals of Swiatek and Sabalenka as an unfortunate surprise, while suggesting that players be punished by a reduction in their ranking points. However, under WTA rules, players risk sanctions if they skip mandatory WTA 1000 tournaments without a legitimate reason, such as illness or injury.

Aside from that, players are permitted to miss three scheduled tournaments per season. During Gauff’s press conference at the Dubai Tennis Championships, she revealed that players are not supposed to be docked points for not playing at the WTA 1000 event, as organizers are also meant to understand players’ reasons for withdrawing:

Do I think players should be docked points? Not really.We already have the mandatory. We get zeros on our ranking for everything. For this point in the schedule, I think it’s hard to play all the tournaments now that they’re two weeks. I think the ask of players are becoming more and more and more. I do understand the tournament side. They obviously want the players there. In the past I think top players have always come to Doha and Dubai.

Swiatek and Sabalenka’s withdrawal from the Dubai Tennis Championships means that Elena Rybakina is the top seed at the tournament. She has a chance of overtaking Swiatek, who is currently World No.2, by just winning the Dubai tournament. She reached the semi-finals of the event last year before losing to Mirra Andreeva.

Coco Gauff admits she might skip the Doha Open next year

Coco Gauff isn’t having the best start to the season on tour. After helping Team America reach the semi-finals of the United Cup, she was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after losing to Elina Svitolina in straight sets. In the second round in Doha, she shockingly fell to Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciatetto.

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (Image via X/Quindici Zero)

It was the second consecutive season that she failed to pick a win at the Doha Open. During the aforementioned press conference, she noted that if things don’t change for her in Dubai, she might consider not playing at the event next year. She highlighted that the conditions will have to be favorable for her to play at the event in 2027:

Personally, Doha was a bit slower, but here it’s a bit faster. I think I might struggle a bit to adapt. Yes, the transition after Australia could be difficult for some players. I know some players have decided to skip these two tournaments, and maybe in the future, depending on my condition, I could consider that option, because there’s no point coming if it’s just to keep losing in the first round.

Gauff has been handed a very difficult draw at the Dubai Tennis Championships. She will face the winner between Jelena Ostapenko and Anna Kalinskaya in the second round after earning a first-round bye. Should she reach the quarter-finals of the event, she is likely to face Jasmine Paolini, while a potential clash against Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals awaits her.

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