The scheduling of the Billie Jean King Cup finals, taking place in Glasgow this week, has left some tennis fans scratching their heads.
The tournament has scheduled the matches in such a way that Slovakia and Kazakhstan have both finished their group matches, before Czech Republic or Canada had even struck a tennis ball.
The result is that the Czech Republic or Canada, should they win their groups, will have to play four days in a row, while Kazakhstan or Slovakia (depending on who wins their group) will have two days of rest before their semi-final match.
This has caused consternation of eagle-eyed fans online. However, there has been some speculation that the scheduling was made in order to provide more recovery time for countries whose players had just finished participating in the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, a tournament which finished just one day before the Billie Jean King Cup finals got underway several time zones away in Glasgow, UK.
For example, the Czech Republic, who are one of the nation teams to benefit from this scheduling structure, have two players who were competing in the WTA Finals right up to the end of the that competition.
Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova were a doubles team in Fort Worth, making it all the way to the final. The pair are both representing their country at this week's tournament in Glasgow, which is perhaps why tournament organisers decided to give them a couple of days extra rest.
It is a similar situation with the US team, who had Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff competing in the WTA Finals. Pegula has since pulled out of the Billie Jean King Cup finals, but Gauff will be one of those players who benefits from a slightly longer rest time.
Given the controversy surrounding the short turnaround between these two big events, the tournament organisers can perhaps be forgiven for trying to ameliorate the situation somewhat.
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