Iga Świątek, the fourth-ranked player in the world, is already one of the most dominant, famous clay court specialists. As she gets ready for Wimbledon, she is repeating her call for a better tennis schedule. It was a bitter disappointment for the Polish athlete — a four-time French Open champion — this year. She pulled out of the semifinals at Roland Garros. After her early dent, she made a rapid transition to grass courts, a surface where she is usually at her weakest.
Świątek, who is seeded eighth at Wimbledon, will meet Russia’s Polina Kudermetova in the opening round. Despite her challenges on grass, she reached her first grass court final last week at the Bad Homburg Open, where she ultimately fell to top seed Jessica Pegula. The defeat had Świątek in tears, though she said she was proud of her continued development on the quick surface.
“The scheduling is super intense, it’s too intense. There’s no point for us to play over 20 tournaments in a year,” Świątek stated, highlighting her frustration with the current structure of the professional circuit. She emphasized that players often feel compelled to participate in numerous tournaments to maintain their rankings, which can conflict with national representation.
“Sometimes, we need to sacrifice playing for your country because we need to keep up with playing these WTA 500s, for example, because we’re going to get a zero in the ranking,” she added. This very sentiment in fact speaks to the larger struggle all players are currently grappling with between personal dreams and national duty.
Watch the angry Polish star take down the hypocrisy. This is in line with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA)’s recent actions, as they brought an anti-trust lawsuit against tennis governing bodies earlier this year. The lawsuit shines a light on the 11-month season players suffer through. Understandably, many are now wondering whether this grueling new timetable is even feasible.
In her remarks, Świątek raised the issue of mandatory tournament obligations. She recommended trimming down the condition of events—which she said could seriously improve the sport’s excellence. I feel like these type of mandatory obligations and the whole mandatory tournament rules really kinda forces our hand … I think people would still watch tennis, more even, if we played less tournaments. The quality would be better,” she remarked.
Going into Wimbledon, Świątek is clearly set on ascertaining her place in the pantheon of great grass players. “It’s not like a huge change. It’s not like 180 degrees change. I wouldn’t say now suddenly everything is perfect because it’s still a difficult surface. It’s still tricky,” she noted.
Leave a Reply