Canadian Dabrowski elected to WTA Player Council

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – There has been a changing of the guard on the WTA Tour Player Council.

Tennis.Life has learned that two former Grand Slam champions, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka, will not return after their spots came up for re-election during Wimbledon.

Replacing Williams and Azarenka will be younger Americans Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens as top-20 player representatives.

Meanwhile, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski will be on the Council for the first time.

The 27-year-old was elected to the spot that had been occupied by fellow top doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands in 2018 and 2019, that of players outside the top 20 who are full WTA Tour members.

Donna Vekic of Croatia was elected to the spot (players ranked between No. 20 and No. 50) held by the retired Lucie Safarova.

And Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic was voted into the No. 51 – No. 100 spot, which had been held by American Julia Boserup from 2017-2019. Boserup, as well, announced her retirement this year.

Three players with another year to go

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Johanna Konta remain as top-20 representatives, with another to run in their mandate.

So does American Kristie Ahn, who represents players outside the top 100 (a non-voting position).

Dabrowski has been involved in the politics of tennis – notably this year, when she met with the International Tennis Federation more than once regarding the issues around the disastrously-revamped ITF Tour.

She cares – a lot. And she has a lot to offer. No doubt she’ll be a terrific asset to the player council.