Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams to Not Play WTA Events in February

In the month of February, the WTA Tour will be hosting two International (Hua Hin and Acapulco), two Premier (St. Petersburg and Dubai) and one Premier 5 (Doha) tournaments. But, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams decide not to play WTA tennis during the month of February 2020.

Serena Williams’ schedule after the Australian summer

During the Australian summer, Serena snapped her title-less drought since January 2017, as she was victorious in Auckland. Later at the Aussie Open, she lost her three-set third-round match to China’s Wang Qiang. And now until the beginning of March, she has no WTA tournaments scheduled in her calendar.

However, she will be playing the Fed Cup tie in Washington DC, USA, from February 7 to 8 2020. 

Even in 2019, World Number nine Williams was training in Florida, USA during the month of February and hence she has no points to defend this year.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams is expected to be present during the American Double Sunshine in March. Last year she just won a match in Indian Wells and Miami. In 2020, a rejuvenated Serena is expected to make deep runs during Sunshine Double.

Naomi Osaka’s schedule after the Australian summer

Japanese World Number 10 Naomi Osaka began her season with a semifinal-run at Brisbane International. She had a match point against Karolina Pliskova in the last-four round match, but the Czech player turned around the battle. At Australian Open 2020, the defending champion Osaka was dethroned by the 15-year-old Coco Gauff in the third round.

As of now, Naomi isn’t planning to step on the WTA courts in the month of February. In 2019, she came to Dubai as the World Number one tennis player. She played her first match as World Number one against the French player Kristina Mlandenovic and landed up losing in straight sets. Post her loss, Osaka didn’t play tournaments in the month of February.

Naomi Osaka will be next seen during the American Double Sunshine. Last season, after her loss in Dubai, she directly flew to Indian Wells for her title defense. In California, Osaka was dethroned by Belinda Bencic, and in Miami, she was defeated in the second round.

WTA top-ten players during February 2020

The other top-ten players, Ashleigh Barty, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic, Bianca Andreescu, and Sofia Kenin will play in Dubai and Qatar Open 2020.

World Number four Elina Svitolina will be seen on the courts of Thailand Open 2020, Hua Hin and Qatar Open 2020, Doha. The Dutch World Number eight Kiki Bertens will play in St. Petersburg, Dubai and Doha.