Sabalenka accuses tour chiefs of failing to put players’ welfare over ‘insane’ schedule

World number one Aryna Sabalenka accused tennis authorities on Thursday (Jan 8) of failing to put player welfare first over what she called an "insane" tennis season. Speaking at the year-opening Brisbane International, the Belarusian said she was prepared to be fined for missing mandatory tournaments in the months ahead. The number of events in the tennis calendar has been a frequent complaint in recent months among the sport's biggest names.

Men's world number one Carlos Alcaraz is another to have voiced concern about the amount of tennis he plays, although he has also signed up to feature in lucrative exhibition matches. He faces great rival Jannik Sinner in one such event on Saturday in South Korea, barely a week before the Australian Open.

"The season is definitely insane, and that's not good for all of us, as you see so many players getting injured and also the balls are quite heavy, so it's a lot of struggle for all of us," four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said. “The rules are quite tricky with mandatory events, but I'm still doing that, I'm skipping a couple of events in order to protect my body because I struggled a lot last season.”

She added, "So this season we will try to manage it a little bit better, even though they are going to fine me by the end of the season.

"I think they just follow their interests," she said. "But they're not focusing on protecting all of us."

There was no immediate response from the WTA Tour.

However, in a statement to AFP in October, it said that "athlete welfare is always a top priority".

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