Daria Kasatkina was an alternate at the WTA Finals, and she took the chance to criticize a rule that saw Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova qualify for the tournament.
Kasatkina and Danielle Collins, who recently discussed why reversing her retirement decision was bittersweet, were the two alternates on-site at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Jessica Pegula's withdrawal from the WTA Finals before her last match meant Kasatkina was called upon to play against Iga Swiatek in the Pole's final group match of the tournament.
It is challenging for alternates to compete effectively when called upon to play, which visibly showed in Swiatek's match against Kasatkina. The Pole only dropped one game during a crushing victory.
Unfortunately, for the four-time French Open champion, she still did not qualify after Barbora Krejcikova defeated Coco Gauff in the final match of the group, meaning the former world No. 1 winning two matches was not enough.
Krejcikova lost in the semifinal on Friday against Qinwen Zheng, but the Czech player is probably happy with her tournament after winning very few matches since that unexpected run at Wimbledon.
However, under the previous rules, Krejcikova would not have qualified for the WTA Finals because, based on the number of ranking points accumulated, she did not finish in the Top 8 players in 2024.
But a new rule brought in by the WTA this year states that a Grand Slam winner only needs to be among the Top 20 players for ranking points during a year to qualify for the WTA Finals.
That meant Krejcikova qualified for the WTA Finals ahead of Emma Navarro, who would have been the eighth and final player to book her place under the previous rule. The American chose not to be an alternate at the WTA Finals.
Kasatkina, the next player below Navarro in the race, took her place as the first alternate. She came close to qualifying for the WTA Finals after a season that included six finals at the WTA 500 level, including winning the Ningbo Open title last month.
Unfortunately for Kasatkina, less successful efforts at Grand Slams and WTA 1000 tournaments prevented her from qualifying for the WTA Finals despite achieving so many impressive results at WTA 500 level.
Speaking at the season-ending event, Kasatkina outlined her opposition to the rule from which Krejcikova benefited, saying the WTA Finals race should just be about the points earned throughout the season.
“In my opinion, the WTA Race is the WTA Race. So it’s about how many points you earn during the year. If you win a Grand Slam, you already got what you achieved. You won the Grand Slam, points, money, glory, everything. Here it’s the WTA Race. So I think in this scenario, it has to go by points.”
It is a contentious debate. Players are already awarded 2,000 points for winning a Grand Slam, and it is questionable whether they should receive additional benefits from the new rule.
However, winning a Grand Slam is also a unique achievement, and feeling that achievement should be given extra recognition is also understandable.