WASHINGTON, February 17, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
The WTA Tour has established a new Tour Architecture Council that is aimed at addressing issues with the tournament calendar, commitments by players and other core components that comprise the framework of the women’s professional tennis tour. The 13-person panel will be chaired by current World No. 5 Jessica Pegula of the United States, 31, who made her pro debut in 2009 and has been a regular on the WTA Tour since 2015.
The move comes at the same time that this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event, has seen 13 withdrawals and retirements since last Friday, including current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (right hip injury) and World No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland (schedule change).
Dubai tournament director Salah Tahlak told The National‘s Reem Abulleil that he believes there should be harsher sanctions placed on players who make late withdrawals from tournaments, such as what occurred with Sabalenka and Swiatek. He suggested players be docked with point penalties instead of just issuing monetary fines.
Dubai tournament director says he was surprised by the late withdrawals of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.
He believes docking players ranking points would be more effective than fining players for late withdrawals.https://t.co/mRyHCLvXYr
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 15, 2026
In a letter that was released Tuesday by the tour, WTA chair Valerie Camillo, who assumed her position last November, wrote: “There has been a clear sentiment across the Tour that the current calendar does not feel sustainable for players given the physical, professional, and personal pressures of competing at the highest level. …
“It is important we take a fresh, collaborative look at how to best preserve the high-quality competition that builds value for tournaments and provides an unparalleled experience for fans.”
The WTA Tour has the responsibility for developing the calendar of events for women’s professional tennis, while the ATP Tour handles the calendar for men’s professional tennis. The ITF has jurisdiction over the four Grand Slams – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon Championships and US Open – as well as the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
According to the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of Camillo’s letter, the council “will focus first on areas where the WTA has direct authority to drive change, while also identifying longer-term opportunities that will require broader coordination across the sport.”
It is anticipated that the Tour Architecture Council will develop recommendations for consideration by the WTA Board of Directors that can be implemented as soon as next season.
“We are very open to looking broadly at a host of potential solutions to this,” Camillo told the Associated Press. “The idea is: We go in there with a very open mind and open dialogue. We’re not going to solve the entire world [immediately]. … The reason we don’t want to wait for, ‘Hey, let’s do this as a collective system,’ [is] we want to be timely, we want to be focused on making an immediate impact.”
Earlier this season, Sabalenka was very vocal about the WTA Tour schedule. The four-time major champion said before the Australian Open she planned to “protect my body” by skipping some mandatory WTA events, of which Dubai is one of them, on this year’s calendar. “The season is definitely insane,” she said in January.
Jessica Pegula: I know that the schedule is very tough, and it’s not easy, and I think at some point in the year, if you do have a few good results, I think some weeks, unfortunately, do become a little bit of a sacrifice if you’re thinking long term. https://t.co/bqqvFmL2FR pic.twitter.com/cMRe6mQTSb
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 17, 2026
Meanwhile, in an interview with The National, Pegula said “the priority is always staying healthy mentally and physically. ” She opted out of playing in last week’s WTA 1000 tournament in Doha, Qatar in order to be rested for Dubai this week.
“I don’t personally know how they [the players who withdrew from Dubai] are feeling physically, mentally, you never really know,” Pegula said. “But I know that the schedule is very tough, and it’s not easy, and I think at some point in the year, if you do have a few good results, I think some weeks, unfortunately, do become a little bit of a sacrifice if you’re thinking long term.
“I can’t knock any player that wants to make that decision for themselves.”
Besides Pegula, other active players appointed to the council are: two-time Australian Open champion and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus; former No. 3 and two-time major semifinalist Maria Sakkari of Greece; and current No. 96 Katie Volynets of the United States.
