Tennis star Iga Swiatek has withdrawn from the upcoming Billie Jean King Cup, and blasted the tennis schedule in the process. The world number one was set to represent her country of Poland in the finals on November 8 in Glasgow.
But with the WTA Finals concluding across the Atlantic in Texas just 24 hours earlier, the 21-year-old was forced to choose one of the events. She opted for the season-ending championships, though she felt "sad" to miss an event and slammed the schedule as ‘unsafe’.
"I'm disappointed that tennis governing bodies didn't come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments, giving us only one day to travel through the globe and changing the time zone," Swiatek said in a post on Instagram. "The situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury.”
Swiatek will contest the season-ending WTA Finals from October 31 in the US, which sees the top eight players on the Race to the WTA Finals compete in a round-robin format. Players would have one day to travel from Fort Worth, which is six hours behind Glasgow, to make the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and represent their country, which would have been extremely difficult for the three-time grand slam champion to achieve.
"I was thinking it through a lot and discussing it with my team, but I will not be able to play at the Billie Jean King Cup in Glasgow," Swiatek added. "It makes me sad. I'm very sorry, because I play for Poland whenever it's possible and I always give it my best.
"Playing in Poland this year [in the qualifiers] was an honour and I hoped to do this again at the end of the season." Before she tries to win the WTA Finals for the first time, Swiatek will play for the Ostrava Open title this week.
However, she will aim to do so without coach Tomasz Wiktorowski on the sidelines. The tournament’s top seed admitted she wanted to give her team a slightly longer break ahead of her season finale at the San Diego Open and the WTA Finals.
“We did something like that in Dubai and Stuttgart,” she told reporters ahead of the tournament. "We already have our routines. He [Wiktorowski] is always available. We’re going to still do some work in terms of preparation for the match and tactic-wise.
“I feel it’s good for them to stay at home a little bit longer and be more fresh for our trip to the US.” Swiatek, who will play her first tournament since winning her maiden US Open title, will begin her campaign against Ajla Tomljanović, who defeated Serena Williams at Flushing Meadows in the legend’s final match earlier this month.
