Anisimova Raises Concerns Over WTA Schedule After First-Round Dubai Loss
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Amanda Anisimova experienced how tennis players can go from a high to a low in a matter of only a few hours.
On February 15th, 2025, Anisimova won the biggest title of her tennis career. She triumphed at the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha, which is a WTA 1000 tournament.
It was the biggest win of her career, and there were many reasons for her to celebrate. However, she couldn't properly enjoy celebrations, as she had to immediately travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the following WTA 1000 event, where she had to compete already on February 17th, 2025.
Anisimova, like all of the other players, signed up to compete at the 2025 Dubai Championships. But surprisingly, she lost already in the first round of the tournament to her compatriot McCartney Kessler 2-6, 3-6.
She wasn't the only player who surprisingly lost already in the first round in Dubai. Her final opponent in Doha, Jelena Ostapenko, also lost in the first round of the Dubai Championships despite having a sensational week in Doha.
The Latvian player even destroyed Iga Swiatek, but she couldn't get past Moyuka Uchijima in the first round in Dubai, losing 3-6, 3-6.
Anisimova's loss, but also the loss of her final opponent Ostapenko, was likely the reason why she has decided to talk about the scheduling of these two tournaments.
The American player admitted during her post-match press conference that with so little time in between the two tournaments, she could barely prepare, and it felt scary for her to properly challenge her body without good preparation.
"Definitely a little scary to go and play after such a quick turnaround. Not testing out the conditions and putting your body through that, it's like very vulnerable."
Anisimova also explained why skipping the event was not an option for her. She would have been penalized by the WTA, so she had pressure to compete in Dubai.
"With the schedule they have on us, it's tough. You get fined. Then your ranking gets affected if you skip the big tournaments. We don't get much of a choice when it comes to that."
"Knowing that in my mind, I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to try to play and do the best that I can. Hopefully, I can get more used to that.'"
While Anisimova was able to raise some important points, she also realized that the problem that she had concerned only a few players. To have such a tight schedule, the players must reach at least the semi-finals of the event.
The 23-year-old American won the title at the WTA 1000 event in Doha, which put her in this situation. That's why she joked that it was a very problem to have.
"Obviously, it's a good problem to have after a long week. But yeah, it was definitely difficult. But I'm happy with the way that I tried to manage it and tried to put myself out there and still compete."
