'How does the tournament and WTA expect me to recover': Anna Kalinskaya calls out 'one-sided unfair' nature of Cincinnati Open scheduling

Anna Kalinskaya finished her latest match against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the early hours of Thursday morning and she will return again on Friday in the early slot it seems even though the schedule is not yet confirmed. But this led to the Russian having a bone to pick with both the WTA and Cincinnati Open.

Kalinskaya faces off against Iga Swiatek in the Quarter-Finals of the Cincinnati Open after she took down Alexandrova 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 after also seeing off American duo Peyton Stearns and Amanda Anisimova in the early rounds. But with Kalinskaya receiving the late night session game, it has become an issue as a result. Iga Swiatek is duly noted as not wanting to play at night and with the schedule coming out imminently, it seems that the former World No.1 has got her wish of not playing at night which means that Kalinskaya has to return just over a day after her previous game which she laments.

It seems as a result that Kalinskaya will in fact play the 11am slot to start the day for a spot in the semi-finals. She penned on her Instagram story on Thursday: "How can the WTA and tournament expect athletes to perform their best when the scheduling is this unfair?" she said.

"After my match against Alexandrova, I got home from the site at 2:40am and didn't go to bed until 4am. I slept a bit and came to the site to practice. Then I get scheduled at 11am 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."

Likely reason why

All Quarter-Finals are played tomorrow so the bottom half of those who play on Thursday will play late on Friday so perhaps it was to be expected and Elena Rybakina v Aryna Sabalenka was always likely to take a late slot. But the late nature of Kalinskaya's match was seen also on her Instagram as she took an ice bath posting a picture on her story just after 1am after the gruelling tie. She wrote "And what are you doing guys?" with a laughing emoji.

She now has to return early to face Iga Swiatek and faces an uphill battle to do so with most of the other top names involved playing later in the day it seems. Also the Russian mooted that she would face a quick turnaround in a funny on court moment as she was asked about beating her before.

"I’m excited. I hope it’s gonna be a great level. Iga is such a fighter, so, we'll see what's gonna happen tomorrow, I have no idea what time I play. I mean, I play today. Maybe I should rest in the locker room," said Kalinskaya.

She also spoke previously about the key to beating her after seeing her off at the Dubai Tennis Championships. "I know if I don’t stay calm and I don’t stay aggressive she is going to destroy me. That was my plan to stay aggressive and move her a lot. She’s unbelievable. I’m happy I had the chance to play against her.”

Albeit it is presumed plenty of sleep is the modus operandi when it comes to this time and it is something she seemingly won't get a lot of. Albeit she is starting to look up with Kalinskaya now having more of a stable season after plummeting down in the rankings mainly after injury and illness. She hasn't had much to defend since most of her points came off so in reality she can only look up albeit that is when she isn't blighted in her view by scheduling issues.