Jasmine Paolini has been relieved of a point deduction this year, but that has not been the case for everyone.
Paolini has qualified for the WTA Finals for a second consecutive season, something that was confirmed at the Ningbo Open.
The Italian has been able to achieve this in spite of some behind-the-scenes struggles, with Paolini recently unveiling a secret about her season.
Paolini is told to have an advantage at the WTA Finals this year, but she may not have even qualified for the year-end tournament if she was not helped by a rule.
Why Jasmine Paolini was not deducted ranking points this year
Due to a rule on the WTA Tour, players are required to play six tournaments at WTA 500 level in a season.
However, if players do not fulfil this then they will be deducted the lowest number of points from a tournament that contributes to their ranking.
Paolini has only played five WTA 500 level tournaments in 2025, but due to a ruling has been spared of a deduction.
This is because Paolini withdrew from the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide due to medical reasons and therefore is given an exemption to any points deductions.
Had Paolini been penalized for this then she would have been deducted 10 points from reaching the second round of the Canadian Open, and this would have actually put her behind Mirra Andreeva in the race to the WTA Finals.
While Paolini has avoided a points deduction, many top players including Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have not.
Sabalenka has only played three WTA 500 tournaments this year, while Swiatek has competed in four.
As a result, Sabalenka has been deducted a total of 130 ranking points, while Swiatek has lost 173.
They are not the only players to be punished for this, with Coco Gauff (10), Amanda Anisimova (37) and Madison Keys (114) also being docked ranking points.
Tennis fans criticise WTA ruling and say it is a ‘bad look’ for the sport
Unsurprisingly there has been a big reaction to this rule, and it is not the first time the WTA have been criticised for it.
One person wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “This rule is so dumb anyway, why are you forcing players to play even more tournaments than usual.”
Another person added, “How is this even possible, not to mention it has directly impacted the Race. Bad look.”
Someone else suggested that players may even use this as a loophole in the future, “Extremely lucky coincidence. Has her team had this pre-vetted by the WTA? If so was this within the rules?
“Wonder how many players will game the system by using this loophole in the future. Shows how ridiculous the 6 mandatory 500’s rule is.”
While Paolini would have had fewer points than Andreeva had she been docked these points, another person claimed that she would likely have competed in Tokyo and got in anyway.
They wrote, “Seems like it’s always something with the WTA mandatory events point deduction causing confusion. Nobody besides the WTA themselves knows anything This makes no sense, Paolini likely would’ve qualified through Tokyo anyway but how do you get exempt because you intended to play.”
Jasmine Paolini’s Head-to-head vs her WTA Finals Opponents
Regardless of whether people are happy with the ruling, Paolini has qualified for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles.
Paolini has been drawn into the Steffi Graf Group in singles, and Rennae Stubbs has already predicted who will advance from this WTA Finals group.
The other players in this group are Sabalenka, Gauff and Jessica Pegula, two of which Paolini has a negative head-to-head against.
| Group Steffi Graf | Head-to-Head vs Jasmine Paolini |
| Aryna Sabalenka | 5-2 Sabalenka |
| Coco Gauff | 3-3 |
| Jessica Pegula | 5-1 Pegula |
In this group, the only player who Paolini does not have a negative head-to-head against is Gauff, who she has beaten three times this year.
However, Gauff did beat Paolini at the Wuhan Open, in what was their most recent meeting.
Paolini will begin her WTA Finals campaign on Saturday, November 1, playing alongside Sara Errani in a doubles match against the pairing of Asia Muhammad and Demi Schuurs.
The two-time Grand Slam finalist will begin her singles campaign on Sunday, where she will play against world number one Sabalenka.
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