Wimbledon and US Open To Allow Wearable Devices Following French Open Trial

“We want to provide the players with the best possible experience, and we listen to their requests,” Mauresmo said during the pre-tournament press conference, further adding, “Once again, the aim is to improve players’ performance.”

WHOOP is a fitness tracker that weighs very little and provides waterproof protection, and was released to the public in 2015. Athletes and teams use the product because its design enables users to wear it throughout the entire day.

The system monitors essential health metrics which include skin temperature, sleep patterns, heart rate variability, and blood oxygen saturation levels.

The system detects initial signs of health problems while it monitors how well athletes perform and recover from their training.

The competition requires players to monitor their heart rate, sleep, recovery, and physical strain while using devices from the “Player Analysis Tennis” device list. Athletes can use WHOOP as a permitted monitoring device.

The modification represents a significant shift in the way Grand Slam tennis tournaments operate.

Players needed to remove their Whoop bands, which included Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Aryna Sabalenka, during their Australian Open competition three months ago.

Sabalenka Speaks Out on Whoop Ban at Australian Open

At her post-match press conference earlier this year, Aryna Sabalenka was asked about being told to remove her Whoop band at the Australian Open.

“The reason why I was wearing that on court was because we received the email that Whoop got approval from the ITF to wear this device,” she explained, saying she believed it was allowed when she stepped on court.

“I didn’t know that Grand Slams didn’t come to a conclusion, and I don’t understand why, because the whole year we are wearing on WTA tournaments, all of the tournaments I play, we wear Whoop. It’s just for tracking my health,” she added.

World no.1 also made it clear she hopes things change: “I don’t understand why Grand Slams are not allowing us to wear them and I really hope that they will reconsider the decision and let their players track their health monitor.”

WHOOP is widely used by stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Rory McIlroy. It is also common in tennis, which is why there was confusion when Aryna Sabalenka was asked to remove it before her first-round match at the Australian Open.

All WHOOP models, including 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, and MG, are approved by the International Tennis Federation for match use when haptic feedback is off.

While they’ve long been allowed at WTA and ATP events, the Australian Open requires separate approval.

Do you think player feedback is finally influencing major rule changes in tennis?

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