Iga Swiatek is feeling physically squeezed by the WTA’s schedule and cautions she may skip mandatory events to preserve her health.
The Wimbledon winner told the media in Beijing she finds the WTA’s mandatory tournament requirements “pretty crazy” and may need to take matters into her own hands.
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“I don’t know yet how my career is going to look like in a couple of years,” Swiatek told the media at the China Open.
“Maybe I will have to choose some tournaments and skip them, even though they are mandatory.”
The 24-year-old Swiatek has already played 72 matches this season.
The China Open is Swiatek’s 17th event of the season. Coming off her run to the Seoul title, Swiatek pointed to the WTA’s mandatory tournament rule requiring top players to compete in 10 WTA 1000 events, five WTA 500 tournaments and the four Grand Slams as excessive and potentially health hazardous.
Calling those requirements “pretty crazy”, Swiatek said it’s up to players to protect their health, which may mean she opts out of some tournaments in the future.
“It’s just impossible to squeeze it in the schedule,” Swiatek said.
“I think we have to be smart about it, not really unfortunately care about the rules and just think what’s healthy for us.”
The top-seeded Swiatek will face 16th-seeded Emma Navarro for a spot in the Beijing quarterfinals. The winner of that match will meet either fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula or Marta Kostyuk.
World No. 2 Swiatek calls the current WTA schedule “overwhelming.”
“When I look at the schedule, I think we’re playing too much, and the schedule is crazy. That’s the first thing probably that will pop to my head,” Swiatek said. “That’s why I try to split the year for swings and just focus on the next swing.
“After a four-week pre-season, eight days of vacation, if I would look at the end of December and think I’m going to need to play for 11 months on the top of my game, I think that would be overwhelming. It’s better to just really take it step by step because the schedule is really demanding and tough.
“And the goal? I mean, I kind of achieved more than I ever thought anyway. I’m really just trying to develop as a player and learn new skills, just focus on improving the parts of my game that I feel need improvement.”