Anna Kalinskaya took to Instagram to call out the WTA and the Cincinnati Open as the Russian tennis player says it is "unfair" to schedule her quarterfinal match for the earliest slot.
Although the 26-year-old's match against Ekaterina Alexandrova was scheduled for Wednesday, it started very late and didn't finish until the early hours of Thursday.
Today, Kalinskaya is due to return to the court and meet Iga Swiatek in the Cincinnati quarterfinal. However, there is one issue - the Russian isn't happy at all that of the four WTA Friday matches, hers is the first scheduled for the 11 AM slot. In a message posted on Instagram, the world No. 34 suggested that the scheduling was putting her at a disadvantage.
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Kalinskaya slams the WTA, Cincinnati: Unfair... How you expect me to recover?
How can the @wta and tournament expect athletes to perform their best when the scheduling is this unfair? After my match against Alexandrova, I got home from the site at 2:40 AM and didn't go to bed until 4 AM. I slept a bit and came to the site to practice. Then I get scheduled at 11 AM for tomorrow's match - how does the tournament and WTA expect me to recover and continuously adjust my sleep pattern, which is one of the most important aspects of recovery? Seems a bit one sided," Kalinskaya wrote.
It is not a secret that Swiatek doesn't like evening sessions and that she prefers to play as early as possible so she can have as much time as possible to recover. That may have played a role in the Cincinnati Open's decision to schedule their match for 11 AM.
Meanwhile, Kalinskaya ended triumphant when she and Swiatek met in last year's Dubai semifinal after registering a 6-4 6-4 win. The Russian evidently isn't the happiest ahead of the match and it remains to be seen if it will impact her performance.
