Elena Rybakina won't receive a first-round bye at the 2023 Japan Open in Tokyo despite being the third seed.
At some WTA tournaments, the top four, occasionally top eight or sixteen, receive a first-round bye, meaning that they don't have to play their first-round match as a reward for their high ranking. One of those tournaments is also the 2023 Japan Open, a WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo.
However, even though the Kazakhstani player is the third seed in the 2023 Japan Open draw, she didn't get the bye, but the fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari and the fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia both got it.
The reason for that is quite simple, but still interesting - performance byes. Both Sakkari, who won the title in Guadalajara, and Garcia, who lost in the semifinals, went deep at the WTA 1000 event held the previous week, and since there's a long trip from Guadalajara to Tokyo, the risk of them withdrawing from the tournament would be quite high.
As a result, they received a performance bye, as the WTA aims, seek to reward those players who have excelled in an event the preceding week. This can be viewed as an attempt to make the global tennis calendar more accommodating.
On paper, it’s an appealing strategy. The sport often sees top players pulling out from back-to-back tournaments due to tight schedules and the weariness of cross-continental travels. By bestowing performance byes, the WTA hopes to make participation in sequential tournaments more attractive, especially when these events are oceans apart.
Yet, this system also raises some pressing questions. While it certainly rewards those who push through and reach the final stages of a tournament, does it inadvertently penalize others?
Rybakina’s Tokyo situation serves as a compelling example. Her ranking, in any conventional format, would have spared her from the initial round. But here, she prepares to square off against Linda Noskova right from the get-go.
It shines a spotlight on whether players should be possibly "penalized" for making distinctive scheduling choices. If a top seed decides to rest for a week or participate in a different tournament, should they be at a disadvantage in the following event?
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