With Rybakina losing to Miraandleva in three sets, the final lineup for the Dubai tournament was announced, with Tausen facing Andreeva. Sabalenka's loss to Towsen, Pegula's loss to Noskova, Gauff's loss to Kessler, and Swiatek's loss to Andreeva have once again ignited disappointment with the WTA in two 1000-level tournaments in the Middle East, but this underperformance on the tour may be a strategy for the top players.

As you can see from the tour's calendar, except for the four Grand Slams, the remaining tournaments can be said to be spread throughout the year, so it is not easy for professional tennis players to compete around the world throughout the year. Badosa said in an interview not long ago that he hopes to streamline the schedule. If someone criticizes the current players for not being as dedicated as the old players in the past, Li Na said in an interview last year that she would never come back again because "there is too much travel, constantly preparing for the game, participating in the game, preparing again, and participating again". Admittedly, no amount of prize money can hide the fact that professional tennis players are very tired after a whole year of competition.

Looking at the professional tennis circuit since the 21st century, it is not difficult to find that there are many players who have adopted this "strategy", the most typical is Naomi Osaka. Naomi Osaka has four Grand Slam titles, but only seven on the tour, and she often upsets on her usual tours, and her usual lazy attitude has even spread to the French Open and Wimbledon, where she is not good at, and there has been a farce at the French Open where she was forced to withdraw due to depression and reluctance to give post-match interviews. The presence of the tour is almost zero, and it makes people feel that she has won four Grand Slam titles with ease.

If the usual tour is a victim of the Grand Slam, the Asian season between the US Open and the end of the year is even more disastrous. Tired enough of the nearly year-old professional tennis players and the fact that the most important four Grand Slam tournaments have ended, they tend to take a more negative attitude towards the Asian season, the most famous of which is Belgian diva Clijsters, who has been withdrawn from the Asian season for various reasons, including dancing sprained feet, sending her daughter to school, and mole riding. Figuratively speaking, the Asian season is just a formality for some players. Of course, the Asian season is still attractive enough for one type of player, that is, players who are on the verge of the end of the year and want to get a ticket to the year-end finals at the last moment, Muguluza in 15 years and Zheng Qinwen in 24 years are the most typical examples. Therefore, it is essential for the Asian season to continue to exist.

The substandard performance of the top players on the tour is bound to be a big loss for the audience, but it is still very attractive to ordinary players who do not score points in the Grand Slam, because often the top players focus on the Grand Slam matches, and it is difficult for the relatively weak players to win more in the Grand Slam arena. Therefore, taking advantage of the "negative play" of the top players on the tour, ordinary players have the best chance to win bonuses and points. Perhaps in order to encourage more ordinary players to have the opportunity to pay dividends, the WTA has imposed a limit on the number of times the world's top 30 players can participate in 250-level events since last year. This policy is good for both types of players, thanks to which Qatar and Schramkova, who are out of everyone's eye, won their first championship last year.

The most obvious feature of this type of player is that the Grand Slam is relatively stretched, but the tour champions at all levels are soft, like Safina in the past, Wozniacki, Jankovic, Pliskova, and Errani, so their diametrically opposed performances in the Grand Slam and the tour are often dubbed "parallel goods" by fans.

With the gradual improvement of medical conditions, the general age of active professional tennis players is significantly older than in the past, and if the age of 30 was 20 years ago, it would have been a proper age to retire, but now it can be said that it is still the age of play. Coupled with the terrifying Grand Slam record of the Big Three, more and more top players choose to keep their energy in the Grand Slam and just paddle in their usual games. This leaves us with the question: when the quality of reputation is more important, is doubling the amount of money enough to attract more good players? Perhaps the answer is not universal, because each player values something different, for example, rich second-generation players like Pegula and Navarro are more interested in their reputation, while types like Collins who are not from a good family want to get more money to make life better. Considering the differences between players is a factor that needs to be taken into account in the ATP and WTA, and finding the greatest common divisor between players is a priority.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Xiaodi)