World No. 1 Iga Swiatek calls for end to late-night scheduling at tennis tournaments
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Iga Swiatek said the WTA is taking little account of the physical needs of players when rain-delayed matches stretch into the early hours.
PHOTO: AFP
CINCINNATI – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Monday joined Elena Rybakina in blasting late-night scheduling which wrecked the closing days of last week’s Canadian Open in Montreal.
The four-time Grand Slam winner, who is chasing her fifth title of the season this week in Cincinnati, said the WTA is taking little account of the physical needs of players when rain-delayed matches stretch into the early hours.
“Maybe we should focus more on what is healthy for players because we have to compete every week,” the top-seeded Swiatek said, as she awaited her second-round start after a bye.
“The tour is so intense with travel... that it would be nice in the future to focus on players – especially next year, when there will be more and more mandatory tournaments and longer tournaments.”
The scheduling ordeal for 2022’s Wimbledon winner Rybakina began with a Friday night Montreal quarter-final against Daria Kasatkina, which did not end until around 3am local time on Saturday.
Having won that encounter, the Kazakh had nothing left for a later Saturday semi-final which she lost in three sets to Liudmila Samsonova.
Samsonova, meanwhile, was left having to play her semi-final and the final on the same day on Sunday due to weather disruption. She went on to lose the final to Jessica Pegula in 49 minutes.
Rybakina complained afterwards about the physical demands of the scenario.
“I feel destroyed because of the scheduling and the whole situation. I’m not really happy about it, but it is what it is,” Rybakina had said.
“Unfortunately, players can’t do much in these situations... So I picked up some injuries, but we tried to manage it and see how we’ll go from there.”
“Hopefully it’s the last time, because it’s been a bit unprofessional from the... I can’t say really the tournament because I think that the most important is the WTA here,” the world No. 4 added.
“Leadership a little bit weak for now but hopefully something is going to change, because this year there were many situations which I can’t really understand.”
Swiatek backed her colleague to the hilt. She said: “During the clay season, in Rome and Madrid, I played four matches that finished close to or after midnight.
“I understand we have to adjust to broadcasters and everything, but I also asked the WTA for some data to see if people are watching matches that start past 10pm.
“I didn’t get anything, but it would be easier to actually understand that it makes sense to play that late.” AFP
