World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka tweets her frustration with WTA rules that demands top players compete in almost all of the tour's biggest events. Azarenka beat Shahar Peer in the first round of Rome, then immediately pulled out of the tournament, citing a right shoulder injury.
"I was conflicted and disappointed to withdraw from Rome," Azarenka wrote on Twitter. "I tried my hardest but I wasn't healthy going into the tournament. If WTA rules were different then I could have focused on getting healthy but I could not afford another zero pointer on my ranking. Hopefully in the future there will be more protection for players rights."
In statement to TENNIS.com, WTA spokesperson Andrew Walker stated: "The WTA’s Roadmap—created and supported by our WTA players and tournaments—is designed to protect the health of our players and to ensure that fans are able to see their favorite players more often at their favorite events. Key elements of the Roadmap introduced to protect player health include a longer off-season, more in-season breaks and a significantly reduced commitment requirement for top players. Since it was introduced in 2009, player injuries and withdrawals are down 33% and top player participation at our top events is up 28%. We think the Roadmap is working.”
However, the Montreal Gazette, which tallies WTA main-draw injury retirements, walkovers, and withdrawals in both singles and doubles, says that by May 16, the total number in 2012 has risen to 97, or 40 more than last year's total at the same time.
Top 10 players must commit to specific WTA tournaments, exclusive of the Grand Slams and the year-end WTA Championships, which include the four Premier Mandatory tournaments (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing), four of the Premier 5's (Dubai, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, and Tokyo) and at least two 700-level tournaments. A player has the option of skipping one of the Premier 5s annually, but must enter the one she skipped in the next year.
In Azarenka's case, she played all five Premier 5s in 2011, and in fact according to the WTA, she did not have to enter 2012 Rome. Instead, she decided not to enter 2012 Cincinnati.
No . 2 Maria Sharapova countered Azarenka, telling reporters in Rome: "First of all she is probably injured more than any other player and to be No. 1 in the world and be able to play a full schedule. I think last year she had more retirements that anyone but played a full schedule and two days after retirement you would see her practicing, so it's tough to know what her state is and what she is feeling. Personally, if I am injured however big or small the fine is, and if this is the tournament where you have to participate or get zero points, but to be honest I don't really care about that because for me the health is the most important thing….if I am healthy then I can go on court and beat someone and not go and save whatever money and I pay the fine. We have a new system with rules and mandatory tournaments and it's very successful because all the top players attend. Sometimes all the top players are not there because some players get injured but sometimes you have to pay a little out of your pocket and not play or you do a little more media for the tournament but if you are not healthy then you are not going to play. "
In 2010 and 2011, Azarenka retired in 10 singles matches, pulled out of 2011 Beijing after her first match and she and her partner pulled out of four doubles matches. This year she pulled out of the Dubai singles, Indian Wells doubles and then pulled out of Rome.
She has said in the past that one of things that upsets her the most is that she has developed a reputation of a player who is not willing to play slightly hurt. - Matt Cronin