Iga Swiatek says tennis season is ‘too long and too intense’ with players’ health at risk

Iga Swiatek has added her voice to the chorus of players saying the tennis season is putting excessive strain on players’ bodies, warning it is “too long and too intense”.

The world No 2 suggested she would skip some mandatory tournaments in the future to protect her health, risking losing points under the rules governing the tennis ranking system.

Swiatek advanced to the last 16 of the China Open after opponent Camila Osorio retired hurt before the start of the second set of their third-round encounter, with another four matches on Monday finishing early due to player retirements.

The Pole said afterwards: “It's just impossible to squeeze it in the schedule. Maybe I will have to choose some tournaments and skip them, even though they are mandatory.

“We have to be smart about it - not really unfortunately care about the rules and just think what’s healthy for us.”

From last year the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) introduced mandatory requirements for top players to enter all four grand slams, all 10 WTA 1,000 events, and six 500-level tournaments.

Swiatek said the requirements were “pretty crazy”, and that fatigue increased throughout the second half of a long season.

“I don't know yet how my career is going to look like in a couple of years,” she said. “The only thing I can do now, when I decided I'm going to play all these mandatory tournaments, is to just take care of my body, take care of the recovery.

“The Asian swing is the hardest part because you feel like the season is going to finish soon, but you still need to push.

“But yeah, there are a lot of injuries. It is because the season is too long and too intense.”

Beijing, which is a combined WTA 1000 and ATP 500 event, has been hit by a string of injuries to top names. Czech teenager Jakub Mensik retired with a leg issue when trailing 1-4 to third seed Alex de Minaur, who advanced to a semi-final meeting with world No 2 Jannik Sinner.

Fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti was hampered by a thigh or groin problem as he retired 4-6 6-3 3-0 down to Learner Tien, who progressed to his first ATP Tour semi-final as a result.

Swiatek will play Emma Navarro in the fourth round after the American advanced thanks to Lois Boisson retiring when down 6-2, 1-0 in their match, with home favourite Zheng Qinwen also forced to retire as her injury-disrupted season continues.

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