Aryna Sabalenka has explained that she intends to skip "a couple of events" for health issues, after struggling last season. The Belarusian, World No. 1, is currently playing in the Brisbane International and recently beat Sorana Cirstea.
"The season is definitely insane, and that's not good for all of us, as you see so many players getting injured. The rules are quite tricky with mandatory events, but I'm still skipping a couple events in order to protect my body, because I struggled a lot last season", Sabalenka said.
WTA force top players to compete in all four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 tournaments, and at least six WTA 500 events, with punishments ranging from rankings points deductions to fines. Last season Sabalenka only played in three WTA 500 events, and WTA deducted points from her. It also happened to Iga Swiatek.
"It's tricky to do that. You cannot skip 1000 events. It's really tricky, and I think that's insane what they do. I think they just follow their interests, but they're not focusing on protecting all of us", adding that "even though the results were really consistent, some of the tournaments I had been playing completely sick or I've been really exhausted from overplaying.
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."