Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva are in Taipei for their Thursday exhibition and both commented on the WTA schedule, now that the season is slowly approaching the end. The two Russians have opposing views: while Sharapova is satisfied, Zvonareva could use more rest, believing that the current schedule can be exhausting at times, thus provoking injuries.
Here’s what the world number two Sharapova said:
(The schedule) is so much better than it was years ago. We finish two or three weeks before the men do. You can say that’s nothing but it’s huge in our sport, it gives us more time to take a breather whereas before after the season you could maybe take a week off. Now you can take two weeks off and not feel guilty about it.
The fourth-ranked Zvonareva would like to have more flexibility and choice:
With this kind of schedule we have to play every single weekend and sometimes you feel good but sometimes you don’t feel good but you still push yourself hard and at the end of the day you could get sick or get injured.
Zvonareva added that there are players who want to play more and those that want to play less, but that it is important to discuss and find balance. My impression is that more players would side with Zvonareva. If it’s difficult for me to follow all the events as a blogger, I can’t even imagine how difficult it is to play so much and travel all the time. (source: Reuters, photos: sr_cranks)
I think the schedule has long needed to see a change in support of the players mental and physical health. Just from reading the above quotes players on both sides of the argument agree at least on this much.
I guess it is surprising to me that some players do want a heavier schedule, but I guess in terms of ranking and furthering their career the more opportunities they have the better. Surely someone more established like Sharapova though would be in favor of a shorter schedule?
TennisShowView, Sharapova hadn’t played in a long time, so she’s eager to accumulate matches now.
The older the players get the lighter schedule they tend to have. I think younger players know they need a longer schedule. Players like the Williamses could afford to play less because they were overpowering their compeition. These days it is the opposite :-(. There are so few players who manage to win a first WTA title before they reach 21. In the past they were winning titles by the age of 17-18. It´s strange.