Former world number one
Billie Jean King has urged the
tennis authorities to find a way for better scheduling after a hectic season.
A lot of notable players complained about scheduling in the
WTA circuit. Players like America’s Jessica Pegula ended up playing 136 matches
in 2023, meaning a match is less than three days. However, that included
matches in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles category.
In just the singles category, the current world number one
Poland’s Iga Swiatek ended up playing the most matches (75) in the season. Pegula
was second with 70 matches followed by Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka (69) and
America’s Coco Gauff (66).
King, who is often regarded as one of the greatest players in
the history of women’s singles tennis in the Open era, having won 12 Grand Slam
titles in her career, recently while talking to CNN, urged the tennis authorities
to come together to have better scheduling to ensure that players will not have
to suffer from fatigue.
“What the sport needs to do is actually work together, which
is really difficult,” she said. “I think we really should think about the
schedule together. I think we need to take care of our sport the most. Put the
sport first and figure out the scheduling.”