28 days and still counting…Iga Swiatek was last seen in action in her QF match at the 2024 US Open where she lost to Jessica Pegula. After that, she withdrew her name from the China Open, citing personal reasons. Swiatek even apologized to her Chinese fans, saying, “I’m very sorry as I had an amazing time playing and winning this tournament last year and was really looking forward to being back there.” Ever since she made that announcement, fans are curious to know the exact date of her comeback. Can we get a hint from somewhere?

Well, recently, Poland’s Billie Jean King Cup team, Dawid Celt spoke in an interview with “Prezeglad Sportowy” Onet. During that interview, he sparked a new rumor surrounding The Paris Olympic bronze medalist’s absence from the Tour.

“I think it’s health problems. Iga caught a virus, she got a little sick. She needs more time for herself, she needs to rest and calmly prepare for the last tournaments of this season,” said the 38-year-old. However, later on, he backtracked from his previous statement, saying, “I think we have to rely on official statements from Iga’s closest circle. It was made clear that she was forced to withdraw from recent events due to ‘personal issues’” on YouTube channel Break Point.

Celt said if Iga Swiatek is really having a “personal issue,” then it’s better to give her some time and space to sort everything out. According to Celt, initially he thought she was suffering from an illness, but later, he realized that it was something else.

Dawid Celt further added, “From my perspective, it could also be that she is tired. She has every right to be, these last three years have been tough on her. 123 weeks as the leader of the WTA ranking are huge physical and mental costs, very high intensity of play, and the Olympic Games on top of that. If she is tired, it’s no wonder. Of the best tennis players in recent years, she has played the most.”

Iga Swiatek has played 67 matches this season and has won 59 of them. The world number one has also clinched 5 titles this season. That tells us how much effort she has put in to retain her top spot throughout the 2024 season. Notably, the Warsaw-born tennis player’s manager had previously revealed to i.pl, “The next tournament that Iga has been registered for is the competition in Wuhan.” She was referring to the WTA 1000 Dongfeng Voyah – Wuhan Open, set to take place from October 7 to 13. However, Beijing is not Swiatek’s only withdrawal.

On September 26, the organizers of Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, set to take place in Tokyo from October 21-27, informed that she has withdrawn from the tournament. But that was probably not surprising.

The fast courts in Tokyo are not very favorable for Świątek. The high humidity of Tokyo also is a hindrance for her. Her record there might give a clue. Last season, the Polish was eliminated in the quarterfinals of this tournament, and three years ago, on Tokyo courts, she had to bid goodbye to the Olympic competition in the second round. Adam Romer from the “Tenisklub” magazine echoed what Celt said about the withdrawals.

“We have to guess a bit about what is behind Iga’s decisions. However, we can assume that she is tired. I have no doubts about that. She communicated this quite often before,” Romer said in an interview with Sport.pl. The journalist also thinks that staying away is better than playing in such a condition and dropping out early in the tournament.

“I would ask if they would not be more worried if Iga went to such tournaments and lost in the first or second round? Would the fans’ concerns be smaller then? If she does not feel well for some reason, it is probably better that she decides to skip the start, give herself a week or two to prepare for the end of the season. Otherwise, you can go, play and quickly drop out. What would all the fans write then?” Romer argued. He also thinks that Swiatek won’t probably give up the Wuhan Open. Why?

“Usually, you can see that she needs a little run-up to get into top shape after returning to play. The tournament in China may allow her to get into rhythm. The lack of performances before Riyadh could make it difficult for her to do well in the WTA Finals,” Romer explained. The tournament will take place from November 2 to 9. There, Świątek will defend the title she won last year in Cancun, Mexico. Meanwhile, Poland is taking part in the final of the Billie Jean King Cup from 13 to 20 November in Malaga, Spain. Iga’s uncertainty is there as well.

In the line-up recently announced by Celt, the leader of the team will be Magdalena Fręch, currently the second Polish tennis player in the WTA ranking (32nd place). Apart from her, there are Magda Linette (43rd WTA), Maja Chwalińska (176th WTA), and Katarzyna Kawa (221st WTA). But the fifth place has been left vacant. So can Iga be there? “No decisions have been made yet regarding Iga’s participation in the Billie Jean King Cup tournament,” her manager said. But what happens with her ranking after her withdrawal from Beijing?

Tomasz Wiktorowski’s protégé will lose 1,000 ranking points. But her top position, for now, looks secure. Iga (10855) now has a convincing 2139 points lead over her closest rival Aryna Sabalenka (8716). Świątek also leads the WTA Race ranking, which makes her eligible for the WTA Finals tournament. All that being said, we’ve previously seen Iga Swiatek complain about hectic schedules in the WTA.

Iga Swiatek in favor of managing the workload ‘wisely’

In December last year, we saw Iga Swiatek lash out at WTA for the 2024 calendar. She was clearly very much “unhappy” with the number of mandatory tournaments and withdrawal restrictions that increased suddenly. However, nothing really changed after that and this year we have already seen her withdrawing from a few tournaments.

During the Cincinnati Masters, we saw Swiatek highlight how a jam-packed tennis schedule can cause serious burnout among the players. “It’s not going to end well. It makes tennis less fun for us. I love playing in all these places, but it’s pretty exhausting and most of the WTA players would tell you that, especially when you’re playing at a high level,” said the world number one. Even during her withdrawal from the Canadian Open, she cited, “fatigue” to be one of the key reasons.

In fact, the Raszyn player, in an interview with Eurosport, had claimed that the WTA was going against their own promotion of mental health and a work-life balance by extending tournaments and adding more WTA 1000 events. Iga has also found support in this issue from the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, who had claimed that the hectic tennis schedule was “killing us.” Ons Jabeur’s recent injury also just adds more evidence to it.

Iga Swiatek has been strongly advocating the schedule issue along with her peers in the tennis world. What can be the way out of it? “Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely,” says the Polish superstar ahead of the Cincinnati Open as she had to rapidly shift from the clay court of Paris to the hard courts of North America. Do you think fatigue is really playing a key role in Swiatek’s delay in her comeback this season?