The WTA Tour’s demanding schedule is once again in focus after several top players withdrew from the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The back-to-back nature of the first WTA 1000 events of the year, at the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships, proved too difficult for some of the tour’s top players.
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Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina all withdrew from the Dubai tournament as the tally reached a staggering 12 at the event.
As players continue to complain about the schedule, there has been talk of adding another WTA Tour event.
Monte Carlo Masters considering adding WTA event
The Monte Carlo Masters has a long history and discussions are currently underway about whether to add a women’s draw. The tournament boss, David Massey, spoke in L’Equipe about the possibility of organizing a WTA event.
“A women’s draw? We’re open to it. It’s still a project, maybe in the future. We haven’t made any progress,” Massey said.
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He also mentioned that “the possibility of organizing a WTA and ATP tournament simultaneously was discussed.”
Massey stressed that expanding the event would require significant changes to the schedule.
“For this we need more days. We remain open there, but it is not planned for the moment. It depends on the calendar,” he explained.
“We need more weeks between Miami (March 17-28) and our tournament and add more days. This will be a long-term project.”
WTA calendar clash with the Monte Carlo Masters
During the men’s Monte Carlo Masters, the WTA calendar only has one event.
The Linz Open in Austria takes place alongside the first clay-court Masters 1000 event of the season.
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Previous champions include Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka, with Ekaterina Alexandrova being the most recent winner.
The tournament awards 500 ranking points, half of the total awarded to the Monte-Carlo champion on the ATP side.
It remains unclear whether a possible women’s draw in Monte Carlo would achieve WTA 1000 status or remain a lower-tier event.
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