Written by Richard Paglia | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Photo Credit: Brad Penner/US Open/USTA
New York-This is Sviatec’s The competitive engine helps increase the popularity of the WTA.
World No. 1 Swiatek has reiterated her criticism of the packed WTA schedule. The tour schedule is a crazy train and players need to book more stops, Swiatek said today.
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The 2022 US Open champion eased into a tight, rescuing three set points before winning the final five points of the tiebreak to defeat the lucky loser. Camila Rakimova She won 6-4, 7-6(6) in the first round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium today.
Swatec later said the players were feeling the pressure and that the WTA would “easily resolve the issue” but had already decided to take part in the tournament.
“Well, it would be easy for the people in charge to fix it, but they’ve already made so many decisions and have committed so much to tournaments like the WTA, you know, that would mean they change their minds. It’s a tough business,” Swiatek said. “But I think the players know it’s crazy and they know the schedule is really tough.
“For example, we talked about it in Cincinnati, and some people say, ‘Oh, you don’t have to play in that many tournaments,’ but the truth is, we have so many tournaments that we have to play in that we literally have to show up and we don’t have time to work on anything or think peacefully because we go from one tournament to the next.”
The 23-year-old Swiatek has already posted a 54-7 record on the season and has a lot more tennis ahead of him. Swiatek’s comments about the critical schedule in Cincinnati have irritated the former No. 1. Yevgeny Kafelnikov I’d like to accuse her of being a chronic complainer on social media.
“Is someone pushing you to play?” he wrote. “All you do is complain!! I’ll tell you what you deserve! You deserve a lot less than you are getting now!! How about that??”
Who’s pushing and screaming??? You’re just complaining!! I’ll tell you what you deserve! You deserve a lot less than what you’re getting now!! What do you think??✌️😉 https://t.co/Oc4GBS0ll4
— Kafelnikov Yevgeny (@KYevgeni) August 17, 2024
Kafelnikov, who has consistently led the ATP in both singles and doubles, said the stars have a duty to support the tour.
But Swiatek concluded that while it was unhealthy for the tour to continue to push players on such a gruelling schedule, the players “don’t have much influence on what’s going on”.
“And this is, we don’t even have time until the end of the year. The first tournament starts on December 29, literally. So, the season is just too long,” Swiatek said. “I think it should change. I think it’s better for the fans, because they won’t see as many of their favorite players out or injured.
“And we’d like to say we can do better quality. Of course we can. But yes, as I said at the beginning, we saw last year that we didn’t have much influence on what was happening upstairs. Basically, the rules were changed without us even knowing it.”
