Olympic tennis event begins three days after Wimbledon<\/p>\n
Rybakina: \u2018It\u2019s crazy \u2026 hopefully something will change\u2019<\/p>\n
Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and a number of top tennis players have called for changes to the calendar in light of the \u201ccrazy\u201d and \u201cridiculous\u201d news that the tennis competition in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will begin just three days after Wimbledon ends.<\/p>\n
The LA28 Olympics announced last month that the tennis event will take place between 19 and 28 July. With the Wimbledon 2028 men\u2019s final on 16 July, the best performers at the tournament will have minimal time to fly to a different continent and adapt from grass to hard courts.<\/p>\n
Asked whether she thinks adjustments should be made to the tennis calendar, Sabalenka said: \u201cThat\u2019s definitely something that we can consider doing because three days after the men\u2019s Wimbledon final, it\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd an Olympics is something huge. It\u2019s something that you play once in four years. So I feel like we should try to like open up the schedule a little bit and make sure that we have a bit like at least a week because it\u2019s too much of a stress on the body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rybakina agreed: \u201cIt\u2019s just crazy to know that it\u2019s just a couple of days after Wimbledon, but I think this year the dates were moved at the beginning of the year, so who knows? Hopefully something will change for next year so it\u2019s more convenient for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Olympic summer is always a busy time in the tennis schedule, with the Games positioned between Wimbledon and the North American hard-court swing, but this will be a far tighter turnaround than Paris in 2024, which began 13 days after the end of Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
Daniil Medvedev said he was not aware of the tight schedule but he also believes there should be changes to the timetable: \u201cNow that I hear this, it would be great if something can be done. You tell me three days, make it at least six. I don\u2019t know, even six is not good. But make it at least six, seven, try to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, said this is just one example of many where player welfare is not prioritised with tournament scheduling: \u201cOverall, you can see that the schedule is crazy. I\u2019ve been talking about that for years. At the beginning, everybody said I\u2019m just a crybaby, but now more players are talking about it. It\u2019s tough. This situation is going to be really difficult for the person that plays the final and then needs to get on hard courts and play on the other side of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our picture editors select their favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in<\/p>\n