In a press release by the WTA, two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka has been re-elected to the Player's Council as a Top 20 representative.
On Tuesday, October 3rd, the results for this year's elections were announced in two more key positions including WTA Tournament Council and WTA Board of Directors. Within the player's council, Azarenka will be joined by World No. 10 Caroline Garcia.
The Frenchwoman is a new addition to the Player's Council representing Top 20 players which includes existing members: Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, and Donna Vekic. Another newly elected member is Daria Saville who represents the 51-100 position.
Like Azarenka, Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski has been re-elected for another term representing the 21+ position/doubles-only position. Incumbents usually serve a term limit of two years before re-election. The new appointments will take effect after the WTA Finals, which kicks off on October 29th and run till November 5th, after which they will be on duty.
The WTA Player's Council is vested with the primary responsibility of representing the interests and concerns of female players. It advocates for such interests as one voice by engaging WTA management in communication on issues such as scheduling, prize money, and even performance byes which have cropped up this year and that have been raised by the players.
Azarenka has retained her position for another term and she's been critical of the effectiveness of the Player's Council during one interview at the Canadian Open in which she described how her patience was waning for not getting concrete results.
However, her re-election is unlikely to go down well with her Ukrainian peers. Last year, Marta Kostyuk called out the Belarusian player who was involved in airing out players' grievances regarding stripping off Wimbledon points. Kostyuk vehemently condemned Azarenka's participation in the decision-making process, calling it "ridiculous", when she was not even playing in the tournament due to a ban.
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