The Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA's Masters 1,000 event, is in the eye of the storm because of the huge number of withdrawals, both before and during the event. The latest one was the top seeded player, Elena Rybakina, who retired in third round due to fatigue and nausea after two sets against lucky loser Antonia Ruzic.
But there have been many more, like Paula Badosa, as well as World No. 1 and 2 Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, whose withdrawal before the tournament was criticised by tournament director Salah Tahlak, who suggested WTA should impose point deductions for players who retire without a good excuse.
But seeing the reality, that more and more players retire from tournaments and don't mind exposing to monetary fines as long as they protect their health, as Sabalenka said at the beginning of the year, WTA launched a Tour Architecture Council, with the goal of launching "actionable improvements" that could be implemented as early as the 2027 season.
"There has been a clear sentiment across the Tour that the current calendar does not feel sustainable for players given the physical, professional and personal pressures of competing at the highest level", said WTA Chair Valerie Camillo. The goal of this council will be to develop meaningful improvements to the calendar, and will be made up of 13 people, including world No. 5 Jessica Pegula, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sakkari, Katie Volynets or Anja Vreg.
"At the end of the day, we play a lot. We play a full schedule, we play 10, 11 months out of the year sometimes. And I think right now we're living in an age where the priority is always staying healthy mentally and physically, and you never know where a player is at with that", said Pegula, via Tennis.com. "Even if they've been winning matches, you don't know if they've been dealing with an injury throughout that whole time or not."
In the meantime, Pegula was the first to reach semifinals in Dubai, defeating Clara Tauson this morning.