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Aryna Sabalenka says she may never return to compete at the Dubai Tennis Championships after she and Iga Swiatek were harshly criticised by the tournament director for their withdrawals from the tournament last month.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Sabalenka said during her pre-tournament press conference at the Miami Open. “I don’t think he showed himself in the best way possible. For me it’s actually so sad to see that the tournament directors and the tournaments are not protecting us as a player. They just care about their sellings, about their tournament and that’s it. His comment was ridiculous. I’m not sure if I ever want to go there after his comment. For me it’s too much.”
After the top two players withdrew from the tournament shortly before it began, the tournament director Salah Tahlak argued that top players should receive stronger penalties for last-minute withdrawals from events, including ranking points deductions. “I think there should be a harsher punishment on the players, not just fines, they should be docked ranking points.”
In her press conference on Tuesday at the Miami Open, however, the women’s No 1 said her decision not to compete in February was based on her determination to remain physically and mentally sound in a “crazy” tennis schedule.
Sabalenka opted not to compete at all in February, withdrawing from both the Dubai and Doha WTA 1000 events, both of which took place before the US-Israel war on Iran and the subsequent crisis in the region. Sabalenka’s decision paid off last week as she won the Indian Wells title for the first time in her career.
“Going into this season, we decided we were going to prioritise my health and make sure that we have these little gaps in the schedule where I can just reset, recharge, work and be better prepared for bigger tournaments. I feel like scheduling is going crazy and I feel like that’s why you see so many players are injured, always taped and not delivering the best quality matches because it’s almost impossible,” she said.
Jack Draper is one such player who has been unable to handle the rigours of the gruelling tennis calendar. He continues his comeback this week at the Miami Open after being sidelined for seven months because of bone bruising in his left arm.
Draper accepts that it will take a long process to return to the top even after making significant progress at Indian Wells, where he produced one of the most memorable victories by defeating Novak Djokovic in a high-quality three-set night match en route to the quarter-finals.
“When you have the injury you had, you start to look ahead, you start to think big picture. It’s easy to play week after week after week, and chase the points and chase the ranking and what you need to do, but at the end of the day I want to have a long career. I want to be able to achieve all the things I want to, and I won’t be able to do that if ultimately my body’s not where I want it to be,” he said.
“I think it will be a process for a little while for me and I’ve accepted that and that’s OK. Who knows how I’ll get on with my tennis, I think I’m improving all the time, I’m getting better. I’m not putting too much pressure on myself to feel a certain way or to be getting the kind of results that maybe I wanted to early on last year when I was really climbing, but I know that will come soon.”
Despite his brilliant performance at Indian Wells, Draper’s failure to defend his title meant he has fallen out of the top 20. Having been ranked men’s world No 4 before his injury, the 24-year-old is the 25th seed at the Miami Open this week, where he has received a first-round bye. With Cameron Norrie also performing extremely well at Indian Wells, reaching the quarter-finals after a win over the No 6 Alex de Minaur, Norrie has also leapfrogged Draper as the British No 1 this week. Their rankings battle was the source of some good-natured banter in California.
“In the press after I played Novak, they said: ‘You’re still going to be British No 1, and that was the first time I thought about it.’ So I messaged him and said I’m still holding on to it for a little bit longer,” Draper said. “It’s not like a competition, I’m really happy to see Cam back playing good tennis and playing at a great level.”
English (US)