Elena Rybakina leads call for changes to 2028 calendar after schedule chaos

Elena Rybakina says she hopes the sporting governing bodies will consider making changes to ensure things are “more convenient” for players after the revelation that the tennis competition at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will begin just three days after Wimbledon ends.

The LA28 Olympics announced last month that the tennis event will take place between 19 and 28 July. With the Wimbledon 2028 men’s final on 16 July, the best performersat the tournament will have minimal time to fly to a different continent and adapt from grass to hard courts.

Asked whether she thinks adjustments should be made to the calendar, Rybakina said: “I honestly didn’t think about it. It’s just crazy to know that it’s just a couple of days after Wimbledon, but I think this year the dates were moved at the beginning of the year, so who knows? Hopefully something will change for next year so it’s more convenient for everybody.”

An Olympic summer is always a busy time in the tennis schedule, with the Games positioned between Wimbledon and the North American hard-court swing, but this will be a far tighter turnaround than Paris in 2024, which began 13 days after the end of Wimbledon.

Daniil Medvedev said he was not aware of the tight turnaround but he believes there should be changes to the timetable: “Wow, I didn’t know this. Well, To be honest with you, now that I hear this, it would be great if something can be done. You tell me three days, make it at least six. I don’t know, even six is not good.But like make it at least six, seven, try to do something. Look, I always said since the first Olympics I played, I love it. We’re also talking like final of Wimbledon, so you never know how it goes.

“But if you ask me now, I want to play both and I’m probably going to play both. Hopefully I can play good in both of them, but you never know. Someone can do something to make a bit of a gap, either Wimbledon one week before, change the calendar a bit, or the Olympics. That would be good for everyone because you want to see the best players in most tournaments.”