Jessica Pegula to chair new WTA council focused on calendar reform

Last week, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek announced their withdrawal from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the second of back-to-back WTA 1000 events in the Middle East.

Their absence renewed the conversation around how sustainable the professional tennis calendar really is—a discussion that only grew louder after eight other players also pulled out of the draw citing injury, illness and schedule changes, while four more players, including top seed Elena Rybakina, retired mid-match in Dubai.

Read More: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek Dubai withdrawals signal 'strategic scheduling' from top players

The WTA’s top players are largely in agreement that the calendar needs an overhaul—and now a new council has been formed to begin addressing the issue head on.

On Tuesday, WTA Chair Valerie Camillo announced the launch of the 13-person Tour Architecture Council, whose goal is to recommend “actionable improvements” that could be implemented as early as the 2027 season.

Read More: GI Illness forces Elena Rybakina to retire in Dubai, as lucky loser Antonia Ruzic advances

“It's important we take a fresh, collaborative look at how to best preserve the high-quality competition that builds value for tournaments and provides an unparalleled experience for fans,” Camillo wrote in a letter addressed to players and tournament partners titled ‘A Stronger Framework for Women's Tennis.’

“Over my first 90 days, there has been a clear sentiment across the Tour that the current calendar does not feel sustainable for players given the physical, professional and personal pressures of competing at the highest level…

“For this reason, today I am establishing the Tour Architecture Council, a representative working group convened by the WTA to develop meaningful improvements to the calendar, commitments and other core elements of the Tour framework.”

According to Camillo, the Council will bring together prominent voices from across the global tennis ecosystem. It is made up of players from around the world, leaders from tournaments across the Americas, Europe and Asia, as well as WTA senior leadership—including Camillo and WTA CEO Portia Archer—and experts in Tour operations.

The Council will be chaired by world No. 5 Jessica Pegula, who will help guide discussions so they reflect the “full range of different player experiences on Tour.”

Pegula, who also serves on the WTA Player Council, explained the initiative to press in Dubai.

“I know that the schedule is very tough, and it's not easy,” she told The National’s Reem Abulleil. “I think at some point in the year, if you do have a few good results, some weeks unfortunately do become a little bit of a sacrifice if you're thinking long term. I can't knock any player that wants to make that decision for themselves."

“At the end of the day, we play a lot. We play a full schedule, we play 10, 11 months out of the year sometimes," Pegula added. "And I think right now we're living in an age where the priority is always staying healthy mentally and physically, and you never know where a player is at with that.

“Even if they've been winning matches, you don't know if they've been dealing with an injury throughout that whole time or not. And that's where you see people, especially top players, be a little bit more choosy with that schedule until maybe it changes in the future.”

The first order of business for the Council will be to focus on areas where the WTA has direct authority—for example, not the Grand Slams, which the WTA does not govern—while also identifying longer-term opportunities that will require broader coordination across the sport.

Other player representatives on the Tour Architecture Council include Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sakkari, Katie Volynets and Anja Vreg, while tournament representatives include Bob Moran, Laura Ceccarelli and Alastair Garland.