How have tennis players responded to performance byes? Everything to know about the stances taken by Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina

Pro tennis players have already made their stances clear on the ‘performance bye’ in use on the Asian swing. The WTA (Women's Tennis Association) has introduced this at the Tokyo and Beijing tournaments, leading to a wide-ranging debate on the topic involving both fans and players themselves.

Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Veronika Kudermetova received byes into the second round of the China Open under the new rules. They had reached the Tokyo semifinals the previous week and were therefore given a bye in the first round instead of it going to the Top-4 seeds.

Iga Swiatek was the first top star to back the performance bye rule, explaining how this rule could cut some slack for the players, who otherwise rush and do not have much time to rest or practice.

“I think it’s smart because usually when I had tournaments that I played till the end, I know how it is to rush to another tournament and not have time to rest and prepare,” Swiatek said.

“So I think that rule is fine. I think that rule makes sense. 'I just want to focus on myself. For me, doesn’t matter if I’m going to play one more match. It’s another opportunity for me to kind of win and to play. So it doesn’t matter to me if I play another match or not.” she added.

The World No. 2, who would have received a bye if not for the new performance quota, came to Beijing after losing in the Tokyo quarterfinals and ended up winning her opener in China in straight sets regardless.

Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, and Ons Jabeur are less than pleased with the perfomance bye

2023 China Open - Day 6

Players like Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Ryabakina, and Ons Jabuer, however, have expressed their discontent with the performance bye.

Ryabakina, the Kazakh No. 1, pulled out of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo citing fitness problems and had initially lamented about having missed out on a bye because of the system used there.

She stated her disagreement on the usage of the performance byes, adding that players have to be informed better about changes.

“I don't think it would be good to put this rule only at the end of the season because we had a lot of events like this. I don't think it looks good for the world number one not to have a bye,” she said.

“This is something to discuss with the players & see how it is going to be the rule in the future because it has not been fulfilled for four years. That is why many players, especially young players, did not know it. It is not that difficult to explain how it is going to work, that is why many players are not happy.” Ryabakina added.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who missed out on the bye in Beijing, was not pleased with the new implementation.

“I think you have to earn those byes. You have to do it for the consistency of your game, not just for playing well in a tournament, so you get this advantage. You have to deserve it, that’s why I don’t understand it and I don’t agree. I’m happy for the players who made it, but I think this is not acceptable.” she stated.

Ons Jabeur also opened up about her dissatisfaction with not receiving a bye after winning the Ningbo Open.

Even though the Tunisian played the week before the China Open and went all the way in Ningbo, she was not given a bye as it was a WTA 250 tournament. Under the current system, only semifinalists from 500-level and up tournaments taking place before a WTA 1000 tournament get priority for byes.

“The rules on performance byes are really confusing. For me, I would have liked to have a bye performance for the Ningbo tournament. If it is allowed to give a tournament 500 to a 1000, then it is allowed to give it from a 250 to a 1000,” Ons Jabeur said.