"Brutal" - Journalist slams schedule as Elena Rybakina retires mid-match at Cincinnati Open and Canadian Open champs Pegula and Sinner lose early

This year's Cincinnati Open has been marred by a host of injuries, prompting concerns about the scheduling of the North American ATP Masters 1000 events.

Tennis journalist Christopher Clarey took to social media earlier on Thursday (18 August) to talk about the mid-match retirements of Elena Rybakina, Donna Vekic, Mackenzie McDonald & Dusan Lajovic at the 2023 Cincinnati Open on the same day.

He also implied that top players Jannik Sinner and Jessica Pegula, both of whom bagged titles at last week's Canadian Open, may have been physically hampered during their early-round losses at the tournament.

Clarey argued that scheduling consecutive weeks of play at the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open was "brutal" for the players, before asking for a more thoughtful approach to the tennis calendar.

"Four retirements mid-match today in singles at Cincinnati Open: Rybakina, Vekic, McDonald & Lajovic. Surprise defeats for Montreal champ Jessica Pegula in her 2nd round & Toronto champ Jannik Sinner in his 1st. The Canada-Cincy double is brutal. All the more reason to schedule smarter," the journalist wrote.

It should be noted that World No. 5 Holger Rune and recent Canadian Open semifinalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina also suffered mid-match retirements in the second round of the tournament (on 16 August).

Rune was forced to call it quits during his match against Mackenzie McDonald (who also retired against Adrian Mannarino in his Round-of-16 match) due to a debilitating back injury. Davidovich Fokina also suffered the same injury during his encounter against Novak Djokovic.

Lajovic, Vekic and Rybakina retired mid-match on the next day (17 August), due to a toe injury, a viral illness and a shoulder injury respectively.

It should be noted that there is not even a single day's break between the elite tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati. The start dates of the two events are 7 August and 14 August respectively.

The closeness of the two events, combined with the medium-to-slow speed of the courts and the scorching weather in the United States, makes it difficult for players to be physically at their peak during the US Open series.

"It’s going to not be easy to recover for the next two weeks" - Elena Rybakina on tight schedule at Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open

Elena Rybakina was forced to retire from her third-round match at the Cincinnati Open

Elena Rybakina was one of the players forced to retire mid-match, which she did against Jasmine Paolini in the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. The Kazakh had won the first set 6-4 but her shoulder started affecting her play in the second. Trailing her Italian opponent 2-5, Rybakina eventually retired due to the shoulder issue.

Coincidentally, she had expressed discontent with WTA's scheduling earlier this week too, after a semifinal loss at the 2023 Canadian Open due to tiredness following a 3 am finish in her previous match. In one of her comments from a interaction, she suggested that her body would likely feel the ramifications from her late Canada finish during her next tournament campaign in Cincinnati.

"The worst thing is that it's not about this tournament, it’s going to be not easy to recover for the next two weeks," she had said then.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion's forewarning turned out to be right, as she was forced to retire in the third round of this week's Cincinnati Open.