Iga Swiatek is one of the form players currently playing on the WTA Tour.
Swiatek thrashed Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final earlier this year and has now collected six Grand Slam titles.
Swiatek has now put daylight between herself and Coco Gauff in the WTA rankings after winning the Korea Open last weekend.
The Polish performer has bounced back from a quarterfinal defeat to Anisimova that saw the American gain retribution for her thrashing at Wimbledon.
Swiatek may face a fine from the WTA or face losing ranking points, and now she’s called on the powers that be to make a change to how things operate.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesIga Swiatek urges meeting between ITF and WTA
In the WTA rules, it states that players must play in all four Grand Slams, all 10 of the WTA 1000 events and also take part in six WTA 500 tournaments.
So far, Swiatek has only played in four WTA 500 events and with the year drawing to a close, Swiatek might be docked points from her current ranking.
The 24-year-old would like common sense to prevail in this situation and thinks it’s time for the ITF and WTA to have a conversation about the rules in their current practice.
She said in her press conference: “I haven’t because I knew I’m not playing these Finals.
“But I think it’s a good decision in terms of the scheduling because it’s just tough in November for a player who don’t play the WTA Finals to be kind of still in the season for more weeks and not be able to go on vacation because, I mean, okay maybe I shouldn’t speak about vacation, but let’s be honest, we don’t have time during the year. We need to do that for our bodies, as well. Other players will wait. Other players will go on holiday, then practice a couple of days, play the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, which also is not perfect.
“Yeah, putting it right now, I think it’s better. But the question is if actually finally maybe ITF and WTA talk together and maybe these players don’t have to play these six mandatory 500s, or five, because they have one week less to do that. That’s the question.
“Honestly, I got to say, because I didn’t play, I don’t know these rules (smiling). If WTA treated this as another tournament, maybe let them not have the six mandatory 500s, I think it would be nice. But I have no idea how it is.”
Iga Swiatek shares what she thinks of the tournaments in China
It’s hard to find too many players who don’t enjoy the Asian swing, and Swiatek is no different.
It’s clear that she enjoys playing in the Far East and she’s also been sharing what she likes to get up to when she does have some downtime from tennis in Asia.
She continued: “Well, honestly, I wasn’t reflecting much because the day after, I knew I had a day off, so I basically spent, like, 12 hours walking around Seoul because I just really wanted to see the city. I heard a lot of good things about it. During the tournament, there wasn’t a lot of time. During my days off, it was always raining.
“I think maybe yesterday, I don’t know, I was just reflecting maybe a bit and just happy that I could dig deep in that final. Even though maybe it wasn’t a perfect match, I could still win it.
“Yeah, because that doesn’t happen often, I would say. Usually, I just feel good, and then I win. But I wasn’t feeling the best at the beginning of the final, and then I could really turn it around.
“I think this is the best thing about this tournament. But overall, it was just a great experience. I hope I will be back ’cause I really had a great time.”
A fully refreshed and revitalised Swiatek is a dangerous proposition for the other players on the tour, and she will be heavily fancied to continue her fine form at one of the tournaments on the Asian swing.