The WTA Tour schedule could be about to get slimmer for many of the top star’s on the WTA Tour.

Players have often complained about the amount of tournaments they are expected to play on the WTA Tour, mostly because of mandatory WTA 500 and WTA 1000 events.

That could be about to be altered if Cincinnati Open tournament director Bob Moran is to be believed.

Moran, who is also on the The WTA Tour Architecture Council, said: “When we came out with circuit structure a couple of years ago, it was trying to get players to play more 1000s and 500s.

“They have to play 1000s, but more of the 500s, and rules were put into place to do that. And one of the things was they have to play six 500s. We heard from the players that that has been difficult. I’m very confident that at the US Open, you’ll see that number come down.”

That will be music to the ears of Coco Gauff, who ranted about how the schedule had become ‘impossible’ last year due to the amount of mandatory events she was expected to play.

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“Obviously with the mandatory rules, I know why it’s in place with prize money and everything. Do I agree with them? I mean, I guess on a business point, it can kind of make sense. But on a player health standpoint, I don’t really agree with it,” said the American.

“I think I’ve basically played as much tennis as I possibly can, and it’s impossible to keep up with the six 500s. It’s just impossible. Especially now with more and more events being two weeks, it just doesn’t really make sense to strain your body.

“The way the season is kind of built, you have like usually, other than the grass, you have two 1000s back-to-back and then a Grand Slam, a 500 before. It doesn’t always make sense to play the 500 before knowing you’re probably going to play four weeks of tennis, then have to play a Slam, keep up with sponsor commitments, things like that.

“I definitely would like to see in my lifetime on tour a solution be made to make the season shorter. I also think it does some of the 500s a disservice. For example, I wanted to play DC this year.

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to play DC and then play two weeks in Cincinnati and Montreal. I think it does a disservice to that tournament for the scheduling.

“I definitely would love to see somehow how we can balance that out to make it a little bit easier for players in tournaments to make those decisions.

“Honestly, as a top player, you see most of the top 5, top 10 playing very limited 500s just because when you make it deep in a two-week tournament, it doesn’t make sense to play one.”

It’s currently unclear how many mandatory tournaments would be dropped from WTA 500s, but it will likely only be one or two from the players’ schedules.

Still, it will make a big difference for some of the top players who are playing for basically 10 months solid before the season ends in November.