Aryna Sabalenka laments "insane" tennis schedule, plans to skip events despite fines

Aryna Sabalenka has lamented the "insane" tennis season and "tricky" rules when it comes to mandatory events, saying the tennis chiefs are not interested in protecting players as they "just follow their own interests".

The world No. 1 is not the first player to complain about the overcrowded tennis calendar and she won't be the last as the likes of Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff have all voiced their concerns in recent years.

And while some might wonder "why don't they just skip more events", WTA rules state that players need to feature in a certain number of mandatory events or risk the possibility of being fined ranking points.

Sabalenka and Swiatek were on the receiving end of zero-pointers late in the 2025 WTA Tour season for not playing the minimum amount of WTA 500 events during the year.

Ultimately, the points penalties didn't have a big impact at the top of the WTA Rankings as Sabalenka had a big enough lead over Swiatek to remain at No. 1.

The new season is now underway, but the same challenges remain and the four-time Grand Slam winner was asked if she would consider stepping away from some tournaments in 2026 to get some much-needed rest.

Sabalenka, though, admitted it is more complicated.

"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, yeah, a lot of struggle for all of us," she said.

"But what Serena did, the rules were different. Right now, like last season, by the end of the season, because I didn't play enough of 500 events, they fine us with points, me and Iga.

"So then it's, like, okay if you play seven events, even if you win â- okay, if you win all of them, then maybe it's not a big deal. But you cannot predict that I'm going to play seven events, I'm going to win them all, and that's it.

"The rules are quite tricky with mandatory events, but I'm still doing that, like, I'm skipping couple events in order to protect my body, because I struggled a lot last season.

"Even though the results were really consistent, but some of the tournaments I had been playing completely sick or I've been really exhausted from overplaying."

Players need to feature in at least 20 WTA events every year while those who qualify for the WTA Finals play 21 per season. Besides the four Grand Slams and 10 WTA 1000 tournaments, they also need to sign up for at least six WTA 500 events.

Sabalenka added: "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. But it's tricky to do that. You cannot skip like 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."

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