Rennae Stubbs Slams Ex-ATP Player for Questioning Aryna Sabalenka’s Canadian Open Withdrawal Decision: “You Have a Problem with Women”

Aryna Sabalenka has decided to take more rest by skipping the Canadian Open. Since the clay swing, Sabalenka, as well as other top players, have been continuously playing tournaments one after the other.

She is not the only player to skip the tournament. From the men’s side, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic have also deemed it best to focus more on rest and recovery before kicking off their campaigns on the North American hard-court swing. When Sabalenka made the announcement about her withdrawal from the Montreal event, she received harsh criticism from former ATP player Kamil Patel.

This can’t be true! So one of the highest paid athletes in the world with a team of physios, fitness trainers and coaches who plays best of 3, gets 2 days rest between matches in Slams, and M1000s, doesn’t play doubles and still manages fatigue? The problem can’t be the schedule.

But he received a strong response from Serena Williams‘ former coach, Rennae Stubbs. The former doubles No.1 asked Patel why he only questioned Sabalenka’s decision and ignored the three men’s players.

You clearly have a problem with women. I don’t see you complaining and going after all the men that pulled out of Canada. U seem very clear with your hate.

Check out their posts here:

You clearly have a problem with women. I don’t see you complaining and going after all the men that pulled out of Canada. U seem very clear with your hate.

— Rennae Stubbs ♈️ (@rennaestubbs) August 2, 2025

But in another post, Patel replied that he doesn’t have a problem with the WTA players, that he’s rather asking every top player who claims the calendar is hectic and chooses to remain on the sidelines. The Mauritian also claimed the 11-month schedule is “much lighter” than 20 years ago.

No, I don't have a problem with ladies. One of my all time heroes is Katherine Switzer. I have a problem with players acting as if the tour is difficult, when in reality schedule is much lighter than 20yrs ago. I have commented on all the other players complaining men and women

— Kamil Patel (@kamiltpatel) August 4, 2025

Sabalenka, Sinner, and Alcaraz will be back for the Cincinnati Masters, but it’s uncertain whether Djokovic will be making his return. The 24-time Grand Slam champion last lifted the Cincinnati title in 2023 by beating Alcaraz and skipped the tournament last year. Sinner and Sabalenka will enter the tournament as the defending champions.

These players were last seen in action at Wimbledon. Swiatek and Sinner ended the tournament in their favor, while Sabalenka and Djokovic were defeated in the semifinals. Alcaraz was the runner-up.

Sabalenka will be bidding to win her fourth title of the season in Cincinnati following her victories in Brisbane, Miami, and Madrid. After Cincinnati, the Belarusian will be hoping to finally end her Grand Slam title drought at the US Open. This season, she played the finals of both the Australian Open and the French Open but lost both to Madison Keys and Coco Gauff, respectively.

Rennae Stubbs wants Coco Gauff to skip the Asian swing

Coco Gauff committed 43 double faults throughout her Canadian Open run; 37 of them came during her second and third round matches against Danielle Collins and Veronika Kudermetova. Rennae Stubbs thinks Gauff, after the US Open, should skip the Asian swing and work on the improvement of her serves.

Time off and no Asia swing. That’s what I would do.

Rennae Stubbs wrote on X

Check out her post here:

Time off and no Asia swing. That’s what i would do.

— Rennae Stubbs ♈️ (@rennaestubbs) July 31, 2025

Gauff crashed out of the Montreal 1000 tournament with a straight-set defeat to 18-year-old Victoria Mboko in the fourth round. The two-time Grand Slam singles champion has once again failed to progress beyond the quarterfinals in Montreal.

She has now lost three back-to-back tournaments without making deep runs since her successful campaign at the French Open. At the Berlin Open and Wimbledon, Gauff even failed to win a set, losing both her opening-round matches in straight sets. She will next be preparing for the Cincinnati Masters, which she won in 2023. The 21-year-old has so far played three singles finals this year and won only the French Open by beating Aryna Sabalenka.

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