The professional tennis season is one of the longest and most grueling seasons in the world of sport, and the ongoing Dubai Tennis Championships have brought some harsh realities to the fore.
The Dubai meet saw an unprecedented wave of withdrawals and on-court retirements, dramatically reshaping the draw. Sixteen players, including top stars like Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka and Zheng Qinwen, had withdrawn. There were three walkovers and four mid-match retirements before the semi-finals.
While the attrition rate made it a nightmare for the organisers to make the necessary changes to the draw – seven lucky losers made it to the main draw – it also reigniting the debate on how demanding the ATP (men’s) and the WTA (women’s) Tours have become.
On the women’s tour, top players are obliged to compete in all four grand slams, 10 WTA 1000 tournaments and six WTA 500 events under WTA rules, with the punishment for missing them ranging from rankings points deductions to fines.
Swiatek, a six-time grand slam champion and ranked second now, had called the tour schedule as “crazy.”
In September last year, during the China Open, where five matches had ended prematurely due to injuries to players, Swiatek had said: “The WTA, with these mandatory rules, they made this pretty crazy for us. Maybe I will have to choose some tournaments and skip them.”
Sabalenka, the world No.1 with four grand slam titles under her belt, had echoed her peer. Ahead of her withdrawal from Dubai due to a hip injury, she said “longevity is the priority for 2026”.
In 2025, Sabalenka competed in just three WTA 500 events — Brisbane, Stuttgart and Berlin — making her one of many high-ranked players, including Swiatek, to be docked ranking points.
In January, she had said: “The season is definitely insane... 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,” the Belarusian had said during the Brisbane International.
Among men, world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, had repeatedly stressed that the schedule does not allow players adequate time to rest and prepare. In early 2025, the seven-time grand slam winner had said: “The amount of tournaments that we have to play is too high … week after week after week and we don’t have the chance to have a week just to prepare pretty well.”
Players like Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune, too, had criticised the extended length and intensity of back-to-back events and expanded Masters tournaments.
For lower-ranked players, there’s even more pressure to play frequently in pursuit of ranking points and financial stability.
The top-30 ATP players are required to compete in all four grand slams, eight mandatory Masters 1000s, and four ATP 500 events, with exemptions for injuries. Missing these events results in “zero” scores.
Last October, ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi defended the men’s Tour, saying scheduling remained the players’ choice. However, some changes are on the anvil to reduce pressure.
An initiative called Vision 28 is underway, aiming to optimise the calendar and give players more flexibility.
The women’s tour has acknowledged that the calendar “does not feel sustainable”. The WTA has announced a Tour Architecture Council, led by Jessica Pegula, to review and recommend substantial calendar reforms by 2027.
