"What the sport needs to do is actually work together" says Billie Jean King on gruelling WTA Calendar as player complaints rise

Former world number one Billie Jean King has urged the tennis authorities to find a way for better scheduling after a hectic season.

A lot of notable players complained about scheduling in the WTA circuit. Players like America’s Jessica Pegula ended up playing 136 matches in 2023, meaning a match is less than three days. However, that included matches in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles category.

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In just the singles category, the current world number one Poland’s Iga Swiatek ended up playing the most matches (75) in the season. Pegula was second with 70 matches followed by Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka (69) and America’s Coco Gauff (66).

King, who is often regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of women’s singles tennis in the Open era, having won 12 Grand Slam titles in her career, recently while talking to CNN, urged the tennis authorities to come together to have better scheduling to ensure that players will not have to suffer from fatigue.

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“What the sport needs to do is actually work together, which is really difficult,” she said. “I think we really should think about the schedule together. I think we need to take care of our sport the most. Put the sport first and figure out the scheduling.”

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