Copyright sportskeeda
A Polish tennis journalist has revealed that Jasmine Paolini pipped Mirra Andreeva to a WTA Finals spot this year aided by a bizarre rule. There are six mandatory WTA 500 tournaments, and players' ranking points are deducted if they don't fulfil this requirement. However, Paolini's ranking points weren't affected because of the rule, the knowledge of which irked several tennis fans.On Wednesday, October 29, Dominik Senkowski took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared that the WTA had explained to him why Paolini wasn't penalized despite playing in five mandatory WTA 500 events instead of six. According to Senkowski, the WTA told him that the Italian withdrew from the Adelaide International at the beginning of the season citing medical reasons.Based on the rule, if a player arrives at a WTA 500 event and then withdraws due to medical reasons but manages to participate in the event's promotional activities, the player is considered to have adhered to the WTA 500 Commitment Tournament requirement. Both Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, the World No. 1 and 2 respectively, were penalized for not fulfiling the requirement."Jasmine Paolini was not penalized with points deduction from the ranking - unlike, for example, Świątek or Sabalenka. The Italian played in 5 and not 6 WTA 500 tournaments this year. The WTA informed me that the lack of penalty stems from the fact that Paolini withdrew from Adelaide for medical reasons," Senkowski wrote. (translated from Polish)Later, Senkowski explained that due to this rule, Jasmine Paolini chose to skip the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, the year's last WTA 500 tournament. Meanwhile, Mirra Andreeva scrambled to participate at the event for securing progress to the WTA Finals, but couldn't because of visa issues. Elena Rybakina also profited from the situation, with the Kazakh reaching the semis in Tokyo to book her place in the WTA Finals, dashing Andreeva's hopes in the process."Paolini certainly didn't play recently in Tokyo. If it weren't for the cited regulation, she could have fought for promotion until the end. The situation is all the more complicated because Andreeva was also supposed to play in Japan, but apparently she didn't receive a visa," Senkowski added. (translated from Polish)Dominik Senkowski @dsenkowski07LINKPaolini pewna awansu nie grała ostatnio w Tokio. Gdyby nie cytowany przepis, do końca mogłaby drzeć o awans. Sytuacja jest tym bardziej złożona, że Andriejewa też miała grać w Japonii, ale ponoć nie otrzymała wizy.Clearly annoyed by the rule, several fans on X vented their frustrations at Jasmine Paolini and the WTA as they empathized with Andreeva."Paolini scamming her way into the WTA Finals are we shocked," one fan wrote."Another Paolini scam. Mirra got robbed," another fan weighed in."This time it was Jasmine taking advantage of this but it’s honestly one of the dumbest rules in sports History. If you didn’t play a match, the tournament shouldn’t be counted, who cares about the promotion activities and stuff like that when you don’t play," commented another."I'm not a fan of Andreeva and probably never will be, but this theft could rival the one from the Louvre tbh," another fan chimed in."I could understand if she (Paolini) had to miss Ningbo, but Adelaide was at the beginning of the year. There were soooooo many other 500 events she could have entered to make up for it. Makes no sense why she didn’t get penalized," opined one."Hmm .. that would mean @iga_swiatek can be on every wta500 tournaments and resign due to medical reasons and then she wont be penalized," another added.Jasmine Paolini in Aryna Sabalenka's group and Elena Rybakina in Iga Swiatek's group at WTA Finals 2025Jasmine Paolini during a practice session ahead of the 2025 WTA Finals (Source: Getty)Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina, the two players who arguably gained the most from Mirra Andreeva's absence in Tokyo, find themselves in different groups at the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Paolini is in the Stefanie Graf Group, which also includes World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the third-ranked Coco Gauff and No. 5 Jessica Pegula. Meanwhile, Elena Rybakina is joined by No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the fourth-ranked Amanda Anisimova and No. 7 Madison Keys in the Serena Williams Group.Coco Gauff is the defending WTA Finals champion, having won the prestigious year-end title in 2024 by beating Zheng Qinwen in the final.
