Elena Rybakina BRUTALLY bashes ‘unprofessional’ WTA for poor scheduling following her 3 AM finish against Daria Kasatkina in Montreal

Rybakina bows out of the Montreal Masters post her defeat against Samsonova.

Elena Rybakina BRUTALLY bashes ‘unprofessional’ WTA for poor scheduling following her 3 AM finish against Daria Kasatkina in Montreal

Elena Rybakina (Image via Daily Express/X)

Kazakh tennis star Elena Rybakina bowed out of the Montreal Masters following her loss against Liudmila Samsonova in three sets 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. However, it wasn’t a quiet exit from Rybakina as she called out the tournament directors and, most importantly, WTA for their poor scheduling.

Rybakina feels her loss in the semi-final to Samsonova had a lot to do with her late exertion-filled quarter-final against Daria Kasatkina. The tight scoreline read 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, and it was a draining contest.

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Rybakina’s quarter-final match against Daria Kasatkina finished just minutes shy of 3 AM and there was hardly any time to recover before she needed to start getting ready for the next encounter. That match was 3 hours and 27 minutes long. “It’s the first time & hopefully the last. I think it’s a little bit of unprofessional–Most important is WTA here. Leadership is a bit weak for now. Hopefully something changes.. I fell asleep at 5 a.m.,” said Rybakina in her press conference.

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Certainly the world number 3 wasn’t impressed with the proceedings and has complained. The fatigue set in at the start of the second set after Rybakina won the first set 6-1. Following that, Rybakina had almost no chance and lost 6-1, 6-2. Samsonova moved forward to play Jessica Pegula in the finale. However, she fell heavily short against the American as she lost 6-1, 6-0 in hardly an hour.

Related: Iga Swiatek reflects on squandering a crucial lead against Jessica Pegula in the Canadian Open semis that saw her lose

Rybakina feels 3 AM finish may spoil the next two weeks

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (Image via Australian Open)

It’s a challenge for an athlete at that level to recover very quickly and certainly Elena Rybakina is feeling the heat right now. A disappointing exit from the Montreal Masters isn’t really what she hoped for. She feels that this might apply breaks on her North American hard court season.

She said, “Well, we finished at 3 am, while I showered, did some stretching a little bit, and went back to the hotel. I fell asleep at 5 am. I woke up at 10 am and it was impossible to sleep, so it definitely wasn’t enough time to recover.”

The World No. 3 continued, “The worst thing is that it’s not about this tournament, it’s going to be not easy to recover for the next two weeks.” She feels her schedule and sleep pattern have been affected big time and it won’t be easy for her to recover in the upcoming two weeks.

Next in her cards is the Cincinnati Masters. It will be interesting to see whether she takes part or not. She will get a bye in the first round, which might just be a blessing in disguise for the Kazakh. However, she would like to recover quickly as the big final Grand Slam of the year is waiting for her in New York. Can the third seed shine at the US Open? However, before that, can she recover in time?

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