Victoria Azarenka rallies behind rivals Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina to SLAM the WTA for persistent ‘poor’ scheduling on tour

Scheduling of matches in tennis has often invited criticism due to the uncertainty involved with the Match timings. The tournaments often release the Order Of Play (OOP) before the start of the day’s play, which acts as a schedule for the matches. For context, the way it usually works is that the beginning of a match on a court depends on when the previous match on that particular court ended.

Often, when a match goes on for longer than usual, it causes the following matches to get delayed. Due to this, sometimes players have to play past midnight or even the next day due to curfew timing. Former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka made sure to call out the WTA for ‘poor’ scheduling after the recent incidents of scheduling.

At last week’s National Bank Open, multiple rain delays forced Elena Rybakina to begin her quarterfinal against Daria Kasatkina late at night, and it didn’t finish until 3 AM the following morning.

The semi-final was postponed by a day too, due to which the winner had to play the final the same night. Rybakina blamed the WTA for a lack of professionalism during her post-match press conference. Iga Swiatek echoed Rybakina’s calls for change in Cincinnati, having first raised the issue during the clay-court tournaments in Madrid and Rome, where she had multiple midnight finishes. Talking about a possible solution, Swiatek asked the tournaments to start the night sessions earlier.

Waging into the debate in a press conference, Azarenka expressed frustration at her inability to bring about a change. Talking to the press, Azarenka remarked, “I absolutely lost it yesterday because we work so hard in the Players Council, and I just felt so frustrated, like I’m not making a difference, and I put in a lot of time and effort, and I’m very direct.” 

Speaking about the scheduling problems in tennis, Azarenka further added, “This is the only sport in the world where you don’t know when you’re going to play. It was 11 PM yesterday and I didn’t know when I’m going to play. This is unacceptable in any shape or form.”

Furthermore, expressing the concerns of the players and fans alike, she said, “I look at it as a player, and it’s ridiculous. I look at it as a fan, and I don’t know which matches I’m going to go watch because I have no clue, unless you’re very fanatical, but we need to appeal to a bigger crowd to watch our sport.”

Keep Exploring: Carlos Alcaraz proud to be Novak Djokovic’s ‘main opponent’ as the Spaniard talks of their growing rivalry

Victoria Azarenka backs Swiatek’s calls to move Night sessions forward

WTA and Tournament officials often cite broadcasters as the reason for the late scheduling of Night sessions. However, Azarenka believes that even broadcasters don’t benefit if matches go into late hours.

Speaking on it Azarenka said, “These late finishes aren’t benefitting anyone. They’re not benefitting fans, tournaments, broadcasting because there are no primetime spots, and it’s impossible to find tennis on TV or anywhere. You’re looking for it like it’s some treasure.” Azarenka said that other courts apart from Centre Courts should host some of the night matches to ease scheduling.

Azarenka further proposed a radical solution saying that tennis matches can be made shorter. Elaborating on her proposal, Azarenka said, “I don’t know how it will be received, but if matches could be a little bit shorter. I think the quality of the competition won’t be affected that extremely. There’s tradition, but I don’t think it would change the game to the point where it’s unrecognizable. Maybe a third set is up to 12 points. There has to be some innovation possible.”

Currently, Victoria Azarenka is participating in the Cincinnati Masters. The former world number one got the better of Barbora Krejcikova in her first match of the tournament. Next, she is scheduled to play the Croatian International Donna Vekic.

In case you missed it:

• Roger Federer continued chasing Grand Slam titles because of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic claims Andrea Petkovic
• Caroline Wozniacki eyes a dream Olympics return alongside her Danish counterpart Holger Rune

Stay Updated!

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW