Elena
Rybakina criticized the WTA rule changes that prevented her from receiving a
bye at the Toray
Pan Pacific Open. We review other controversies with the
organization.
The
tournament organizers in Tokyo decided that following Maria Sakkari's title at
the Guadalajara Open and Caroline Garcia's strong performance until the
semifinals, they would change the seeding order, displacing Rybakina.
Sakkari was
guaranteed a bye as the fourth seed, but Garcia, who was the fifth seed, was
scheduled to start her first-round match on Monday. However, she received an
exception that directly affected
Elena Rybakina.
"Performance
bye. Thank you for changing the rules last moment. Great decisions as always
@wta."
This is not
the first time that Rybakina has been in controversy with the WTA. The Kazakh
tennis player spoke out in 2022 after her Wimbledon title because the
restrictions imposed by Wimbledon at that time prevented her from earning the
2,000 points that typically come with winning a Grand Slam.
Despite
being a Grand Slam champion, she remained at world No. 25, which forced her to
play at the US Open on Court 12, one of the smaller courts in the tournament. Rybakina
was not pleased with the treatment she received despite being the most recent
Slam champion:
"It
was my dream to win at Wimbledon. That's a shame. I feel like I'm not really
the champion. I don't think that's fair. I'm not just talking about myself, but
in general I think with all these decisions a lot of players are paying the
price." - Elena Rybakina on her US Open court allotment.”
Recently,
Rybakina played in the Canadian Open, where she survived a marathon match
lasting three hours and 27 minutes against Daria Kasatkina, with a score of
5-7, 7-5, 7-6(8). The match ended close to 3 am, and the 24-year-old athlete
was upset about the scheduling of the match:
"I am
destroyed guys! But thank you so much for everyone who stayed so late. It’s
really amazing that you supported us," said Rybakina during her on-court
interview.
"It’s
the first time when the match went that long and we finished also so late. It’s
the first time and hopefully the last time because I think it’s been a little
bit unprofessional from the, I cannot say really the tournament because I think
that the most important is the WTA here, and the leadership is a little bit
weak for now," she said in her post-match press conference,” she said
during press conference.
