Professional tennis players have already made their position clear on the “performance bye” used in the Asian swing. The WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) introduced it during the tournaments in Tokyo and Beijing, which gave rise to a vast debate on the subject, involving both supporters and the players themselves.
Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova received byes into the second round of the China Open under the new rules. They had reached the semi-finals in Tokyo the week before and therefore received a first round bye instead of going to the Top 4 seeds.
Iga Swiatek was the first big star to support the performance exemption rule, explaining how this rule could give some breathing space to players, who are otherwise rushing and don’t have much time to rest or train .
“I think it’s smart because usually when I played tournaments until the end, I know what it’s like to rush to another tournament and not have time to rest and to prepare,” Swiatek said.
“So I think this rule is good. I think this rule makes sense. “I just want to focus on myself. For me, it doesn’t matter if I play one more match. It’s another opportunity for me to win and play. So I don’t care if I play another match or not. she added.
The world number 2, who would have received a bye without the new performance quota, arrived in Beijing after losing in the quarter-finals in Tokyo and still ended up winning her first match in China in straight sets.
Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur are not very satisfied with this performance.
Players like Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Ryabakina and Ons Jabuer, however, expressed their dissatisfaction with the goodbye performance.
Ryabakinathe Kazakh number one, withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo due to fitness concerns and initially complained about missing out on a bye because of the system used there.
She disagreed with the use of performance exemptions, adding that players need to be better informed about the changes.
“I don’t think it would be good to put this rule only at the end of the season because we have had a lot of events like this. I don’t think it looks good for the world number one not to have time off,” she said.
“It’s something we need to discuss with the players and see how this is going to be the rule in the future because it hasn’t been respected for four years. This is why many players, especially young players, did not know about it. It’s not that hard to explain how it’s going to work, which is why many players aren’t happy. » added Ryabakina.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka, who missed her pass in Beijing, was not happy with the new implementation.
“I think you have to earn those passes. You have to do it for the consistency of your game, not just to play well in a tournament, so you get that advantage. You have to deserve it, that’s why I don’t understand it and I don’t agree. I’m happy for the players who succeeded, but I think it’s not acceptable. » she declared.
Ons Jabeur also expressed his displeasure at not receiving a bye after winning the Ningbo Open.
Even though the Tunisian played the week before the China Open and went all the way in Ningbo, she did not get a bye since it was a WTA 250 tournament. In the system Currently, only semi-finalists of tournaments level 500 and above taking place before a WTA 1000 tournament have priority for byes.
“The rules on performance exemptions are really confusing. For my part, I would have liked to have had a bye performance for the Ningbo tournament. If it is allowed to give a tournament 500 to 1000, then it is allowed to give it 250 to 1000,” said Ons Jabeur.
