Swiatek hits out at ‘too intense’ schedule for top tennis stars

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek believes fans are being robbed of seeing tennis’ biggest names performing at their best due to the intensity of a relentless schedule.

Swiatek, who has consistently spoken out about the physical and mental demands placed upon top players, said the number of mandatory events on the WTA Tour was ruining the spectacle for fans ahead of the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday.

“I think the scheduling is super intense. It’s too intense. There’s no point for us to play, like, over 20 tournaments in a year,” Swiatek said at her pre-Wimbledon press conference on Sunday.

“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.

“I think these kind of obligations and the rules about mandatory tournaments just put pressure on us.

“For me the scheduling is pretty intense. I think people would still watch tennis, maybe even more, if we played less tournaments, but the quality, for example, would be better or we would be more consistent because of that.”

Swiatek is yet to win a title this year in a disappointing run that has seen her slip to fourth in the world rankings.

Her three-year reign as French Open champion was ended in a semi-final defeat to world number one Aryna Sabalenka earlier this month.

But a slightly earlier exit from the clay of Roland Garros has allowed Swiatek extra time to prepare for the transition to grass, where she has traditionally struggled despite winning Wimbledon as a junior.

Swiatek reached her first ever grass court final on Saturday, losing to Jessica Pegula in the Bad Homburg Open.

“Probably so far it’s the best one that I’ve had,” added Switek on her preparations for Wimbledon, where she has never progressed beyond the fourth round.

“I had really great time in Bad Homburg and enjoyed it. Also having more time to practice before on grass really helped. I feel that I have a little bit more skills.”

Swiatek faces Russia’s Polina Kudermetova in the first round on Tuesday.