Iga Swiatek Criticizes Tennis Calendar and Advocates for Fewer Tournaments
The tennis player Iga Swiatek, currently ranked fourth in the world, has expressed her concern about the demanding schedule of professional tennis. The Polish player suggests that tennis players should not be forced to participate in more than 20 tournaments a year to maintain their rankings. Swiatek recounted how she found herself at a crossroads, having to choose between representing her country and focusing on her individual career, a situation that led her to miss Poland’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier in April.The tennis player had previously pointed out the challenges presented by the tennis calendar, mentioning the impact on mental health before last year’s US Open and attributing a defeat in February to lack of preparation. Swiatek argues that the obligations and rules regarding mandatory tournaments put pressure on the players. Furthermore, she believes that the quality of tennis could improve if the number of tournaments were reduced, which could even attract more spectators. The extensive tennis schedule was one of the key points of the lawsuit filed by the Professional Tennis Players Association against the sport’s governing bodies in March, describing it as “unsustainable”. Swiatek, seeded number eight at Wimbledon this year, will face Polina Kudermetova in the first round on Tuesday. The clay specialist, with four French Open titles, fell in the semifinals of Roland Garros this year and quickly shifted her focus to grass, a surface that has historically been the weakest for her. Swiatek reached her first grass court final on Saturday at the Bad Homburg Open, where she was emotional after losing to Jessica Pegula. However, she is satisfied with her progress on grass, adapting to the faster surface.Programming is super intense. It’s too intense. It makes no sense for us to play more than 20 tournaments a year. Sometimes we have to sacrifice playing for our country because we need to keep playing these WTA 500s, for example, because we’re going to get a zero in the ranking.
Iga Swiatek
It’s not a big change. It’s not a 180-degree change. I wouldn’t say that suddenly everything is perfect, because it’s still a difficult surface. It’s still complicated. Every year I feel like it’s a little easier to get used to the surface, and then you have more time to develop as a player.
Iga Swiatek
