“How does WTA expect me to recover?” — Kalinskaya slams ‘unfair’ Cincinnati schedule ahead of Swiatek showdown
Anna Kalinskaya felt wronged after her Cincinnati Open quarter-final was scheduled for Friday morning after a late-night finish to her fourth-round clash
Anna Kalinskaya | © Zuma / Psnewz
Anna Kalinskaya expressed her discontent over the WTA schedule at the Cincinnati Open after defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova in a late-night thriller in the fourth round.
Beating Alexandrova proved tough for Kalinskaya as the former resisted sternly for two hours, 18 minutes on Wednesday. Their three-setter concluded on the following night, and as per Kalinskaya, she didn’t hit the bed until 4 am.
The world No 34 on Thursday discovered that her quarter-final, against reigning Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek, has been slated for an early 11 am start on Friday—a decision that left the Russian feeling a deep sense of injustice.
Thus, the indignant Kalinskaya took to Instagram and slammed the WTA and the Cincinnati organisers for the roster.
“How can the WTA and tournament expect athletes to perform their best when the scheduling is unfair?” she wrote. “After my match against Alexandrova, I got home from the site at 2:40 am and didn’t go to bed until 4 am. I slept a bit and came to the site to practice.”
“Then I get scheduled at 11 am for tomorrow’s match—how does the tournament and WTA expect me to recover and continuously adjust my sleep pattern, which is one of the most important aspects of recovery? Seems a bit one sided.”
As for her quarter-final clash against Swiatek, Kalinskaya has a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head courtesy of a straight-set win in the semi-finals of the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships.
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