“Doesn’t make sense”: Tennis fans expressed anger after introduction of ‘performance byes’ system for Tokyo Open main round draw

Tennis fans have expressed their protest after the introduction of the ‘performance byes’ system in the draw system.

The new system has been used for the upcoming 2023 Tokyo Open singles draw where the third-seed Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina has been put in an unfavourable position.

The 24-year-old will face Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova in the opening round of the competition whereas fourth and fifth-seeded players — Greece’s Maria Sakkari and France’s Caroline Garcia—will qualify straight to the second round.

That outcome left the tennis fans unimpressed and they shared their thoughts on social media platform X — previously known as Twitter.

The ‘performance byes’ system awards the players for their performances leading up to the competition.

Rybakina has not played any professional tennis since her disappointing outing at the US Open 2023.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion was knocked out from the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year after losing to Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the third round with a score of 6-3, 7-6, 6-4.

On the other hand, Sakkari and Garcia faced off in the semifinal of the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open on Saturday where the former came out on top in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-0. Sakkari even went on to win the Guadalajara Open.