Coco Gauff has battled into the quarterfinals of the China Open after overcoming Belinda Bencic 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-2.
Gauff has been impressing at the China Open, with German Eva Lys now awaiting the defending champion in Beijing.
But Gauff was involved in a spat with Bencic in her latest match at the China Open, in which she was forced to come from behind to grind out a win.
The American is the second seed at the WTA 1000 tournament, which represents her first event since the US Open.
The home favourite, who won the Grand Slam in 2023, fell to Naomi Osaka in the round of 16 at the start of the month.
Photo by Fred Lee/Getty ImagesCoco Gauff says there is an ‘impossible’ WTA rule that she doesn’t agree with
Gauff has now made it beyond that stage at the China Open with her win over Bencic, after which she was asked for her thoughts on the current WTA scheduling rules.
Discussing how all eligible players must compete in all four Grand Slams, all 10 WTA 1000 events and six WTA 500 events, she said: “Yeah, I mean, obviously with the mandatory rules, I know why it’s in place with prize money and everything.
“Do I agree with them? I mean, I guess on a business point, it can kind of make sense. But on a player health standpoint, I don’t really agree with it.
“I think I’ve basically played as much tennis as I possibly can, and it’s impossible to keep up with the six 500s. It’s just impossible.
“Especially now with more and more events being two weeks, it just doesn’t really make sense to strain your body.
“The way the season is kind of built, you have like usually, other than the grass, you have two 1000s back-to-back and then a Grand Slam, a 500 before.
“It doesn’t always make sense to play the 500 before knowing you’re probably going to play four weeks of tennis, then have to play a Slam, keep up with sponsor commitments, things like that.
Photo by China Open Official 2025/VCG via Getty Images
“I definitely would like to see in my lifetime on tour a solution be made to make the season shorter. I also think it does some of the 500s a disservice.
“For example, I wanted to play DC this year. I knew I wouldn’t be able to play DC and then play two weeks in Cincinnati and Montreal. I think it does a disservice to that tournament for the scheduling.
“I definitely would love to see somehow how we can balance that out to make it a little bit easier for players in tournaments to make those decisions.
“Honestly, as a top player, you see most of the top 5, top 10 playing very limited 500s just because when you make it deep in a two-week tournament, it doesn’t make sense to play one.”
Coco Gauff suggests what WTA players would do about exhibitions if the schedule was shortened
The question to Gauff came shortly after her rival Iga Swiatek complained about the WTA schedule, which arrived amid several withdrawals from the China Open.
The busy calendar is clearly becoming a big issue for tennis, with a major change needed in order to avoid such an unwanted scenario.
In that light, Gauff was also asked if she thinks there should be a line drawn whereby there are no exhibitions if there is a shortened season.
Told that players complain about being tired for the new season after agreeing to play in exhibitions, the world number three replied: “Yeah, that’s a good question. I’m generally not someone who does too many XOs anymore.
“Hmmm… it would depend on what that shortened season looked like. I definitely think if it were a shortened season, there was a definite end to the season, maybe that is something that could be added, or at least no exhibitions within that time period of the season.
“I feel like once the season’s over, you should be able to do whatever you want to do, like in other leagues, like NBA, WNBA, if they want to play overseas, they can.
“But that is a good point. I do think that, yes, people will play exhibitions. But exhibitions, honestly, is no different than me practicing with another player. It’s not that much energy spent.
“No one really ever plays full out on the women’s side because we don’t have things like 6 Kings Slam and Laver Cup where they’re actually playing full out. We don’t have that.
“For the guys, it can make more sense to have that kind of thing, but for us, most of the exhibitions are literally one match.
“I definitely think, yeah, if there’s cooperation, if the tour wants to shorten things, I think players would take leeway. That’s definitely a discussion that has a lot of nuance to it.
“I definitely think that could be something that players would agree to if it meant having a season ending around this time instead of November.”
Exhibitions are, of course, regular occurrences on the yearly calendar, with the 6 Kings Slam rapidly approaching.
The likes of ATP stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner head to Riyadh for the event next month, while the Spaniard also heads to Miami for an exhibition event at the end of the year.