WTA to Change Rules for Girls

The WTA Tour, facing criticism for allowing 14-year-old girls to play a tough international schedule of 14 tournaments, announced Thursday that it would try to change that over the next five years.

The organization, responding to recommendations from its governing body, the Women’s Tennis Council, will phase in new rules that will modify the “dose” of tennis allowed players 14 to 18. The recommendations will also be for more medical personnel at tournaments, more education and counseling for parents and players, and a rule that would not allow a player younger than 16 to be in a match starting after 9 p.m.

The WTC’s study leading to those recommendations was begun, in part, in reaction to Jennifer Capriati’s recent departure from the tour because of legal and drug problems, and the current situation with two junior players, Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and Russia’s Anna Kournikova, each of whom is 13. Hingis and Kournikova already have agents and endorsements.

Even with new rules, however, Hingis will be allowed to join the tour in a month, when she turns 14, and Kournikova will be able to join next June, when she turns 14, and be treated as a 15-year-old.