Wozniacki: WTA scheduling too restrictive

Caroline Wozniacki says that the WTA is restricting players too much as to which tournaments they are allowed to play. The former No. 1 said that she wanted to defend her green clay-court title in Charleston this year, but was not allowed to and wants a more flexible schedule. WTA rules mandate that Top 10 players compete in the four Grand Slams, the WTA Championships (if they qualify), four Premier Mandatory tournaments, four Premier 5 events, and two Premier 700 tournaments, for a total of 15 tournament. They are also allowed to play two International Series events.

"I think [my] schedule would look just a little bit different," the Dane told reporters in Indian Wells. "Of course, as a player everyone wants to play the four Grand Slams and Indian Wells, Miamiâ€"the biggest tournaments. But sometimes the ones in between you would probably think, ‘Okay, what suits me? Where do I like to play? Where is the places where I do usually good results? Or where do I feel like my body just needs a break?’ Think you would just make some adjustments and make it better for yourself. In other sports they definitely don't have as many restrictions as we have. Going into the new year I know exactly what I'm going to play. I don't really have a choice, to be honest. Everything is set and I can maybe decide what two small tournaments I want to play. One of them is Copenhagen, which I don't have to, but I want to play. So I have one more tournament that is actually flexible. Then we have the rules with only two Top 6 players allowed to play the 700,000s, which also says, Okay, I want to play Charleston [a $700,000]. No, you're not allowed to. Why not?  I'm defending champion. Why can I not play? Well, you had two other commitments. It's just bad luck. I think there are some rules that could be done better…Yeah a little bit more flexibility for the players, because it's tough to go head to head against the top players all the time."

Wozniacki’s two 700-level tournaments are Dubai (which has already taken place) and Stuttgart, which is in April.

Currently, the two Top 6 players entered in Charleston are Agnieszka Radwanska and Samantha Stosur, but Radwanska was not in the Top 6 when the players first made up their tournament schedules last fall. No. 2 Maria Sharapova did enter Charleston, but is not planning on playing and will intsead play Stuttgart.

Wozniacki said after her press conference that she still might try and play Charleston; with Sharapova's impending withdrawal, that appears possible.â€"Matt Cronin