Both Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek have raised concerns about the WTA Tour schedule during their time at the China Open this week.
Swiatek claimed the schedule was overwhelming, while Gauff said it is ‘impossible’ for players to keep up with the six mandatory WTA 500 events.
Swiatek’s criticisms of the schedule are well-documented, and have been echoed by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, who said he agreed with the Pole’s recent comments during his time at the Japan Open.
The ATP and WTA schedules have been a hot topic of discussion in 2025, and the matter will undoubtedly be revisited frequently until some sort of resolution can be reached.
Anne Keothavong discusses the current tennis schedule
Keothavong was commentating during Coco Gauff’s China Open quarter-final victory against Eva Lys when the topic of scheduling arose.
The Great Britain Billie Jean King Cup captain was asked to comment on the matter following recent remarks by Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.
Carlos Alcaraz’s recent scheduling complaints were also referenced by Keothavong’s co-commentator during the discussion.
On Sky Sports, Keothavong said: “It’s a tricky one, it is a packed calendar and certainly for the top players, what they’re expected to compete and how many events are expected to compete in, especially if they’re getting through to the latter stages, it’s a lot and the commitments off court as well at these events.
“But at the same time I always hear cries for more prize money, more prize money and this is what the Tour’s got to [do] – to increase the prize money they’ve had to extend the length of these tournaments.
“So what is it you want?
“But I do think the calendar as a whole needs to be thought about and tennis needs to come together and come up with something better for the athletes.
“But it’s not just the calendar, the tournaments, it’s the governance of the sport that just, yeah, it’s going to require something big and bold and whether anyone’s brave [enough] to really push the button and do something about it is another matter.”
Keothavong later added: “But I think what would be helpful is for the players to be educated about the ecosystem of tennis. For the most part, players just want to play. They focus on their rankings, doing well in the tournaments.
“They don’t really have the space to really understand how an event works, how it makes money. There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
WTA mandatory events
There are currently 21 mandatory events on the WTA Tour.
Four of those events are Grand Slams, with a further 10 being WTA 1000 events like the Wuhan Open and Indian Wells.
Before 2024, not all of the WTA 1000 tournaments were mandatory events.
In addition to the Grand Slams and WTA 100 events, players are also required to compete in six WTA 500 events.
