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Petra Kvitova called out the WTA over what she felt was an "unfair" scheduling in Beijing. On Monday, Kvitova exited Beijing in the second round after Liudmila Samsonova handed her a 6-4 7-5 loss. After losing to Samsonova, Kvitova made it clear that she wasn't happy about finishing her first-round match at 1am and then having to play her next matches around 15 hours later.
"Far from ideal to finish my match at the @ChinaOpen at 1 am and then be back on the schedule at NB 5:30 pm the next day when some first round matches had yet to be played. I have always played the sport with huge respect and rarely speak out, but this time I feel strongly enough to say that there *has* to have been a fairer option.
Please do better for your players @WTA," Kvitova said in a message posted on X.
enough to say that there *has* to have been a fairer option. Please do better for your players @WTA — Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) October 2, 2023
Kvitova, Alexander Zverev call out scheduling in Beijing
Kvitova was not the first player to publicly voice displeasure with scheduling in Beijing.
After Zverev defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his Beijing round-of-16 match - in a match that finished at 2:40 am local time - he questioned why the start of their match wasn't moved to an earlier start. “Obviously, it’s difficult to play until 3:00 am.
I’m not sure it was the right call to keep us on this court. I think we should’ve changed courts. We should’ve gone on. There’s so many great courts on the stadium. So many opportunities where we could’ve played.
I’m not sure we should’ve waited until past midnight to start the match, to be honest," Zverev said after finishing his Beijing round-of-16 match against Davidovich Fokina at 2:40 am local time. Throughout the season, ATP and WTA players have complained about late finishes in tennis and calling on the ATP and WTA to address that.