Iga Swiatek criticized the relentless tennis calendar on Sunday, saying gamers shouldn’t be compelled to compete in additional than 20 tournaments a 12 months to keep up their rankings.
Former World No. 1 (presently fourth place) mentioned he was trapped in a system the place he had to decide on to signify his nation and deal with himself after skipping Poland’s Billy Junking Cup qualifiers in April.
“Scheduling may be very intense. It is intense. It is not price taking part in greater than 20 tournaments in a 12 months,” Swiatek informed reporters when requested about his greatest problem for gamers when it comes to psychological well being. “For instance, you could sustain with taking part in these WTA 500s to get zeros within the rankings, so that you might need to sacrifice performs to your nation.”
Swiatek beforehand talked about the challenges introduced by the tennis calendar, citing the influence on earlier US psychological well being within the final 12 months, citing the dearth of preparation and the losses in February.
“I feel these sorts of duties and guidelines about obligatory tournaments solely put stress on us,” she mentioned Sunday. “…I feel if we play much less tournaments, individuals will nonetheless watch tennis. The standard can be higher.”
The lengthy tennis schedule was one of many foundations of a lawsuit filed by the Affiliation of Skilled Tennis Gamers towards the Governing Physique of Sports activities in March after the union described it as “unsustainable.”
Swiatek is Wimbledon’s eighth species this 12 months, dealing with Polina Kudermetova within the first spherical on Tuesday.
The Clay Court docket specialist, with 4 open titles in France, has been eradicated on this 12 months’s Roland Garros semi-finals. She rapidly switched her focus to the grass.
She arrived on the final Saturday of her first grass courtroom on the Dangerous Homburg Open. Nevertheless, Swiatek mentioned he was pleased with the grass enhancements.
“It is not like an enormous change. It is not like a 180-degree change. I am not saying that every thing is ideal, as a result of it is nonetheless a tough floor. It is nonetheless tough,” Swiatek mentioned. “Yearly I really feel it is just a little simpler to get used to the floor, and I get extra time to develop as a participant.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
