Tennis organisers have been accused of “f******” the players over with the much-maligned schedule.

In Toronto last week, Elena Rybakina finally closed out a three-set thriller against Coco Gauff at 1 am, before having to come back for the final against Iga Swiatek the following evening.

The Australian Open champion was outplayed by the rejuvenated Pole in a 6-2, 6-3 victory at the Canadian Open, but she did look somewhat fatigued for the showpiece event last Thursday.

Players, pundits, and fans alike have heavily criticised the elongated Masters 1000 events, with many top stars either pulling out through injury or being exhausted by an increasingly physical sport that is exacting a heavy toll on their bodies.

Now, Rennae Stubbs has taken aim at tournament directors for not playing matches earlier in the day to maximise recovery and accusing them of not protecting the players.

More WTA Tour News

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.

She said on the latest episode of her podcast, “I was thinking to myself when Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina played in the final, you guys had 10 days to finish this event.

“And yet a player plays a semi-final and finishes at 1am and then has to come back the next day and play at 6pm. I do not understand how a sport can make one person suffer a lot more than the other and it’s supposed to be equal. That is not fair.

“Why are you starting at 7pm plus when you have all f***** day to play a tennis match? Now, do you want to play in the evening because people can come after work or it’s a little bit nicer of an experience and all that sort of stuff? Yeah, okay. But is Canada going to sell out in the day? Hell yeah.”

The final was pushed back an hour or so due to rain but Stubbs still insisted that it was unacceptable that the semi-final and final were played so close to one another.

The Australian also said it was great to see Swiatek back to her best after a difficult year or so. But Rybakina was not at her usual high level and Stubbs blames the scheduling for that.

The former world No 1 doubles player continued, “Now, why wasn’t she? Oh, I don’t know. I would guarantee you, she did not go to bed, like I’m talking sleep, until 3.30am-4am. And you expect that girl to get up when? What’s the circadian rhythm of her sleep now? What’s the rhythm of her practice? How does she feel?

“Iga probably finished and went to bed around midnight which is still not ideal for a tennis player to wake up and play a match the next day at 6pm. But I’ll take that over 4am going to sleep.”

Her co-host, Caitlyn Thompson, said that the ATP, who “spearheaded” the idea for these lengthier tournaments, were so clear in articulating that the longer events would lead to more rest for the players.

Thompson said this had proven to be “false”, with Stubbs adding, “I start to wonder and think that people that put the events on, people that run the tournaments, people that run the WTA and ATP, have no idea what it takes to be a professional tennis player at their best.

“Start the f****** match in the day. It just bothers me to the nth degree that we are still continually f****** the players over with schedule.”

GO DEEPER: Aryna Sabalenka responds when asked what she’s trying to add to her game