Jessica Pegula has revealed that her main motivation for competing in last week’s DC Open in Washington was simply to fulfil her number of mandatory tournaments. Players on the WTA Tour who are ranked high enough to enter must compete in six WTA 500 events in a single year, on top of their mandatory WTA 1000 requirements. Those who do not meet the quota are punished and get ‘zeros’ on their rankings at the end of the season. This means they have ranking points removed from their ‘worst’ results at tournaments earlier in the year.
Exceptional Case in 2024
In an exceptional case at the end of 2024, these ranking points penalties meant Aryna Sabalenka overtook Iga Swiatek for the world No. 1 spot. Last year, Sabalenka, Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, and Madison Keys were also docked points for not entering enough WTA 500 tournaments.
And Pegula was hoping to avoid the same fate when she decided to compete in Washington last week, despite wanting some extra time at home after Wimbledon. The world No. 3 went on to finish runner-up, losing to Alex Eala in a final that was staged over two days due to rain delays.
Quick Turnaround to Toronto
The American has since headed straight to Toronto for the Canadian Open, where she is into the third round. While she had a good result in Washington, Pegula admitted earlier this week that she wasn’t intending to compete. And she opened up on her reasoning after beating Magdalena Frech in Canada.
“To be totally honest, I mean, the reason I played DC was because I was only at three of my six mandatories for the 500s,” Pegula revealed. “I just felt like I like that tournament, I've had good results there, and I felt like my best chance to put another 500 on the calendar, I would much rather travel in the U.S. than maybe try to make it up somewhere else. So that was really the initial reason. Yeah, I would have loved to have some more time at home, but it just didn't work out that way.”
Looking Ahead and Tour Council
Pegula is still planning to enjoy a “reset week” between the Cincinnati Open and the US Open, and was happy to get another WTA 500 event under her belt. She now needs to play two more before the end of the season, and there are five on the calendar.
The world No. 3 also chairs the WTA’s new Tour Architecture Council, created earlier this year to develop recommendations and improvements of the tour framework. Addressing the current rules, Pegula admitted they were speaking about potentially lowering the number of mandatory events, especially with several WTA 1000 tournaments now lasting two weeks. But she’s also made it clear that players are happy to compete.
“I think it's just, I think looking at what we did, and just going back and tweaking it where maybe players don't feel so much pressure that they have to play. I think sometimes that's where players are at. And then that leads to burnout and injury and stuff like that,” she explained. “So we're looking at it more from like a player kind of health aspect. Because, obviously I'm not the only one. Actually, I don't really think I complain, but a lot of players have complained on the men and women's side about the length of the calendar and how it's just gotten really, really long. So I'm on that council and hopefully we can come up with something that alleviates some of the stress that players feel with having to play. I think that number just maybe was a little too much for players, as far as having to play six. But, yeah, I think it's a work in progress.”
