The WTA season is reaching its climax with the season-ending finals set to begin in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in two weeks.
It has been a thoroughly entertaining season on the WTA Tour, with top stars Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka battling it out at the top of the women’s game.
After winning the Australian Open title earlier this year, Aryna Sabalenka won the US Open in September to take home her third career Grand Slam title.
On the other hand, clay court dominance continued for Iga Swiatek who won the French Open, taking her Roland Garros total to four.
There have also been several breakout stars in the women’s game, with Qinwen Zheng knocking out Iga Swiatek at the Olympics, on her way to the gold medal.
The Chinese star has broken into the top ten in 2024 and has qualified for the season-ending finals for the first time in her career.
All this has happened with a packed WTA schedule however, something that one former player believes needs changing.
Coco Vandeweghe claims WTA schedule is ‘ridiculous’
Coco Vandeweghe, former world number nine and 2018 US Open doubles champion has revealed her thoughts on the busy WTA schedule.
“I think it’s ridiculous that the WTA is asking all these players to play this many events,” she said.
“I went through this personally, it was different requirements, it was a bit less. But when you are top 10 you are required to play certain events and if you don’t, you are subject to fines and zero pointers.
“That ending up creating the end of my career, as I was forced to play when I was unable to play.”
Vandeweghe went on to say that she believes the number of events is damaging the quality of women’s tennis.
“They get out there and there is not as much quality that we are used to,” said Vandeweghe.
“Do we want to see a poor quality WTA Tour? I think no. I think we would want to see the best quality and best available players at any given time.”
It is the potential injuries and fatigue that Vandeweghe is most worried about however.
“I think having the 1000 events now that are two weeks long is killing these players,” she said. “On top of that playing as many 500’s. I think it is too much.”
What is the WTA number one controversy?
The issue of the demanding WTA schedule has come to light as Sabalenka overtook Swiatek to become world number one.
The Belarussian regained the top spot in the rankings due to a rule around the minimum number of tournaments a player must participate in each season.
It is mandatory for each player to play in 20 tournaments per season, including the four Majors, all ten 1000 events, and six 500 tournaments.
Points are deducted from the players’ worst performance in a mandatory event if the requirements are not met.
Whilst both players failed to reach the requirements, as Swiatek played just two WTA 500 events, whilst Sabalenka managed four, Swiatek dropped more points from her mandatory events surrendering the number one spot to her rival.
| Sabalenka | Swiatek |
| Brisbane International – Runner up | United Cup – Runner up |
| Stuttgart Open – Lost in QF | Stuttgart Open – Lost in SF |
| German Open – Lost in QF | |
| Washington Open – Lost in SF |
Many believe that the rule is as Vandeweghe stated, ‘ridiculous’ as punishing players for not reaching an unrealistic goal isn’t a fair way to decide who the best player in the world is.
Swiatek will have her chance at redemption however, as whoever performs better at the WTA Finals out of herself and Sabalenka will likely finish the year as world number one.
The WTA Finals take place in Riyadh from the 2nd – 9th November.
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