Overview
- Umpires instructed Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka to take off Whoop wrist trackers before matches at the Australian Open, enforcing a majors-wide prohibition.
- Tennis Australia reiterated that wearables are not permitted at Grand Slams and said talks are underway on whether the policy could change.
- The ITF approved the Whoop device in December on the condition that haptic feedback is disabled, and both the WTA (since 2021) and ATP (since 2024) allow in‑match wearables.
- Organisers noted that some devices provide internal‑load data such as heart rate and pointed to the tournament’s Bolt6 system for external‑load metrics like distance, accelerations and shot speed.
- Sabalenka questioned the ban after receiving ITF approval notices, Sinner said his team sought post‑match data only, and Whoop’s CEO argued athletes should access their own health information.