“Our calendar is crazy, probably the toughest one in sports” – this is what the world number one in women’s tennis said a few days ago. Hectic schedules have been a major cause of worry for tennis stars in the last few years. From winning the French Open in June to switching to the grass courts of Wimbledon in July, it was already a tough transition. Iga Swiatek then had to come back again to the clay courts to secure a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Now, she’s making the most of her first hard–court tournament in nearly six months. This constant chopping and changing takes its toll, Swiatek explains.

Despite having gone through such an intense schedule, Swiatek has been quite impressive so far this season. She has already won five titles this season and has now reached SF of the Cincinnati Masters. Swiatek defeated Mirra Andreeva in the QF to book a place in the semis against a familiar opponent, Aryna Sabalenka. However, just before stepping onto the court for this high-voltage match, she yet again reflected her concerns about the scheduling in this part of the year.

Talking about the transition from clay to hard courts, she said, “It’s more about adjusting. You don’t have like a lot of time to like actually work on stuff you know. Because first you need to adjust and then you already play matches.” However, she’s thankful that she got a few days to practice before this tournament. Swiatek added, “You also need to get time off coz you’re going to be dead you know at this part of the season. So, I think planning wisely is like the most important thing.” 

So, her advice to all the players is to make full use of the time they’re on the courts! Swiatek has been kind of an advocate of this issue for the last few months. According to her, pushing the players to play more makes tennis “less fun” for them. Although she admitted that she loves playing at different places, at times, these turn out to be pretty much “exhausting“. This wasn’t the first time that Swiatek has spoken of this issue.

Even during this year’s Italian Open, she said, “Scheduling-wise, the planning is going to be more important.” She raised the importance of missing out on some of the tournaments to get themselves ready for the next one. As per the rules, WTA players have to attend eighteen mandatory tournaments throughout the season. This year, being an Olympic year, made things even worse for the players.

Although some lashed out at Swiatek for criticizing the scheduling of the women’s tour, she found Sabalenka by her side!

“It is so crazy” – Swiatek’s main rival echoes her complaints about the grueling women’s tour schedule

Just a few weeks ago, the Belarusian tennis star took a jibe at the WTA saying, “It is simply bad planning from the WTA. After the Olympics, we have to fly straight to Canada for a mandatory event. That is too much pressure and affects the health.” She said it was very “unfortunate” for her to miss out on the Paris Olympics at this stage of her career in order to manage her workload. 

“It is simply too much. Now we are playing on grass, on clay at the Olympics, on hard court in Canada. It is so crazy and damages our health,” said the world number 3. Both the players are almost on the same page on this issue. They think they deserve a little rest every now and then to bring out their A-games.

However, with a few hours left before the SF clash, they will be now keen to step onto the courts in Cincinnati. Who do you think can bring out their A-game here to seal the deal in this intriguing encounter?