Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina says the scheduling at this year’s Canadian Open has left her feeling ‘destroyed’ and has criticised the WTA over their management of the situation.
Due to poor weather throughout the tournament in Toronto, there have been numerous delays to matches taking place. Rybakina’s quarter-final clash with Daria Kasatkina didn’t end until 3am local time on Saturday morning. The Kazakh said she managed to get to sleep at around 5am but woke up at 10am and was unable to fully recover from the match.
Rybakina’s semi-final clash against Liudmila Samsonova of Russia was delayed until Sunday due to poor weather. She lost 6-1, 1-6, 2-6, to the 15th seed and shortly after voiced her frustration with events that have unfolded in recent days.
“I feel destroyed just because of the scheduling and the whole situation,” The Canadian Press quoted Rybakina as saying during her press conference.
“I’m not really happy about it, but yeah, it is what it is. Unfortunately, players cannot do much in these situations. The decision is not really ours. The weather was not helpful.
“So I picked up some injuries I would say, but we tried to manage it and see how we will go from that.”
It is unclear as to what the extent of her injuries are but Rybakina was seen grabbing her shoulder a few times whilst speaking to reporters.
Continuing to voice her anger, the 24-year-old took a swipe at the WTA over their handling of the situation and said she hopes it will not happen again.
“It’s the first time and hopefully the last time because I think it’s been a little bit unprofessional from the — I cannot say really the tournament because I think that the most important is the WTA here,” she said. “Leadership is a little bit weak for now, but hopefully something is going to change because this year it was many situations which I cannot really understand.”
Rybakina hopes to get herself back to full fitness in time for the US Open which will begin on August 28th. The Grand Slam is the only major event where she is yet to reach the second week. Last year she crashed out in the first round.
“Now I have to see how I feel and evaluate the small injuries which I have now, so we will see (if my planning changes),” she said. “I have to be smart in making any decision because U.S. Open is soon.”
In Toronto, Rybakina’s conqueror Samsonova was hammed in the final by Jessica Pegula who won 6-0, 6-1, in under an hour.
