The director of the Dubai Tennis Championships recently slammed Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek’s withdrawals from his event.
Salah Tahlak, the tournament director for the WTA 1000 event, called for the pair to be docked points after withdrawing two days before the tournament.
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Sabalenka, who has not played a match since losing the Australian Open final, cited a hip injury as the reason for her absence. Swiatek, meanwhile, has missed the event due to a change of schedule.
Andy Roddick, the former ATP number one, has issued a strong response to Tahlak’s recent comments.
Andy Roddick slams the suggestion that Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek should be docked ranking points
You’re going to deduct ranking points?” Roddick said on the Served podcast. “My favourite is [when people say] when it’s convenient, that they are independent contractors, we couldn’t possibly do salaries.
“So they are independent contractors, but if they choose not to play this week, we are going to deduct them ranking points? Make it make sense to me.
“It’s unfortunate but we play a full schedule. You’re the one who pushes for the designation of a 1000 in that region in February. It’s a terrible slot.
“People are going to pull out, especially people who are playing for Slams and number one. It’s going to happen.
“So he wants to dock points that they have already won somewhere else? They have earned those points. Can you imagine someone winning a playoff game and then someone taking it away somehow?
“He’s [Salah Tahlak, pictured below] going to dock points from six months ago? How does that even work?
“Every point they have on their point total right now is earned because they have won matches and now we are going to dock points? I don’t think that is very well thought out. That does not make sense to me.
“You’re going to dock them money, so you are going to take that because they can’t play your tournament for one reason or another, that’s already weird and then you are going to take points away. That does not make any sense.”
With Sabalenka and Swiatek absent from the tournament, Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff occupy the top two seeds.
The pair, who have both advanced to the round of 16, have seen many of their peers withdraw from the event in recent days.
As things stand, a staggering 24 of the 43 players who were scheduled to compete have since withdrawn or retired from their matches.
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When could Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek next compete?
Sabalenka and Swiatek’s next event is set to be the Indian Wells Open: a WTA 1000 event that will run from March 4 to 15.
Mirra Andreeva won the 2025 title, defeating Sabalenka in the final. The victory marked Andreeva’s second consecutive WTA 1000 title following her triumph at the 2025 Dubai Tennis Championships.
As for Iga Swiatek, she reached the semi-finals at the 2025 event after beating Carolina Garcia, Dayana Yastremska, Karolina Muchova, and Qinwen Zheng.
In the last four, she lost to Andreeva, 6-7, 6-1, 3-6.
Consequently, Swiatek has 390 WTA ranking points to defend at the 2026 event, while Sabalenka has 650 points to protect.
