Paris (France) (AFP) - The WTA women's tennis circuit announced on Thursday a reduction in the number of mandatory tournaments in 2027 for the highest-ranked players, in response to criticism over the busy schedule.

First modification: 02/10/2026 - 17:46

In the current system, the first 50 players in the ranking were obliged to play each year in the four Grand Slam tournaments, ten WTA 1000 (the most prestigious and lucrative category on the women's circuit) and six in the WTA 500 category.

In 2027 they will only have to compete in four WTA 500 events, the women's circuit announced in a statement published on Thursday.

In addition, they will be able to replace the points acquired during a WTA 1000 with those earned in a WTA 500 or a WTA 250.

This means that a player who refuses to compete in a mandatory WTA 1000 could still add to her ranking the points earned in a less prestigious tournament, compared to the current situation, in which they risk adding zero points.

These new rules will apply for now in 2027. The WTA will then evaluate their impact to decide whether or not the measures continue in 2028.

In January, the ATP men's circuit announced similar measures, reducing the number of mandatory ATP 500 tournaments for the top 30 world tennis players from five to four from 2026.

The statement published on Thursday also indicates that for the first time the allocation for the WTA 1000 that will be held in parallel to the Masters 1000 of the ATP circuit will be identical to that of the corresponding men's tournament.

That was already the case for the WTA and Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid, with the same financial prize for male and female players, but it still did not happen in the WTA 1000 in Rome, Canada and Cincinnati.

© 2026 AFP

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