Coco Gauff
has joined the discussion about scheduling on the WTA Tour, aligning with Elena
Rybakina.
For the
third consecutive week, Gauff has reached the quarterfinals during the US
swing. The 19-year-old American was the champion at the DC Open three weeks
ago, and last week she reached the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open, but fell
to Jessica Pegula.
In recent
weeks, there has been debate about scheduling in ATP and WTA tournaments, and
players like
Elena Rybakina and
Iga Swiatek have called for better timings.
World No. 7 Gauff shared her opinion on the matter:
"Unfortunately,
I think Elena and Iga said the same, there is not much the players can do in
that situation. We can fight. For me, when I had that night match against
Marketa and that was because of the rain, I really fought for the not-before
1:30 time, or not before 2:00, that saved me the extra 30 minutes in the
morning, which means a lot in sleeping terms," Coco Gauff said.
"Yeah,
but, you know, it's tough, because, you know, the tournament is trying to work
with TV, and TV is working. There is a lot of things people don't realize. It's
not as easy as just saying, Let's move all the matches up, because we still
have to sell our sport," she added.
The
American added that this becomes even more challenging in tournaments where
they compete for only one week and there are no rest days:
"Yeah,
there definitely has to be some type of compromise. I know that the player
council is working on it pretty hard, but there is not much they can do, to be
honest," Gauff said."
“(Rybakina's)
match (in Montreal), she finished 3:00 a.m., which is insane. She's right. It
does set you up, like, a terrible week. I do think that some of the
tournaments, especially the one-week tournaments where there is not that extra
day, have to do better," she added.
Coco Gauff
will play in the quarterfinals of the
Cincinnati Open against the tournament's
surprise, 27-year-old Jasmine Paolini, who advanced through the qualifying
rounds and defeated Marta Kostyuk, Cristina Bucsa, and 4th seed Elena Rybakina
in the main draw.
