Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek penalized again because of controversial WTA rules

The WTA's highly controversial regulations around mandatory tournaments are in the spotlight again after Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek were penalized.

Many ATP players feel there are too many mandatory events. The Grand Slams, eight obligatory Masters 1000 tournaments, and four 500-level ones must be played by those at the top unless they have a valid reason.

A few days ago, the ATP announced that a new 1000-level tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia from 2028 at the earliest. Whether that will be mandatory or non-mandatory is uncertain at this stage.

However, WTA players have more reason to feel aggrieved about the calendar. The four Grand Slams, 10 WTA T000 events, and six 500-level tournaments are mandatory unless players have a good reason not to compete.

Sabalenka and Swiatek were impacted by those rules last year. The Belarusian overtook her rival as the new No. 1 after Swiatek received a harsher penalty that week for not playing in enough 500-level tournaments. Sabalenka has remained at No. 1 since.

For each WTA 500 that a player is short, the points from their lowest-earning tournament are removed. In last week's rankings update, several top players were impacted by rules that many consider draconian.

Sabalenka lost 10 points, Swiatek 65, Coco Gauff 10, Amanda Anisimova 10, and 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys 54. Therefore, the Pole got hit hardest for feeling she could not match the mandatory requirements.

This week, Sabalenka was impacted slightly more than her rival at the top. This year's US Open winner lost the 120 points she received for reaching the Dubai Championships round of 16 compared to the 108 points Swiatek dropped for her 2025 Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinal run.

Gauff did not receive any penalty because of the WTA rules. However, she dropped the 1,300 points accumulated for being the 2024 WTA Finals champion, but her impressive results during this year's Asian swing, including winning the 2025 Wuhan Open, mean she remains the world No. 3.

Anisimova, who defeated Gauff in the 2025 China Open semifinal before winning the title, lost 27 points this week, and Keys lost 60. They will join Sabalenka, Swiatek, and Gauff at next week's 2025 WTA Finals.

The WTA's rules seem wholly unsustainable and should be reformed. An unprecedented number of players, including Daria Kasatkina, Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Elina Svitolina, ended their seasons early because of mental fatigue.

Although Sabalenka thoroughly deserves to be No. 1 and would have eventually overtaken Swiatek anyway, her doing that because the six-time Grand Slam champion was penalized for not playing enough 500-level events made the moment somewhat anticlimactic.

With how physical and intense the matches between top players on the WTA Tour are, it is unrealistic to play 21 tournaments (including the WTA Finals for those who qualify) each season to satisfy the mandatory rules.

Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, and others have done so much to grow women's tennis, which is getting record-high viewing figures. It would be wise to listen to players like Swiatek, who has been especially vocal about the calendar's intensity.