Iga Swiatek says the tennis season is too long and too intense

Six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek said she might have to miss mandatory tournaments to protect her health following a string of injuries among players at the China Open.

The world number two from Poland reached the last 16 in Beijing after her Colombian opponent Camila Osorio retired hurt before the second set, with Swiatek winning the first 6-0.

That was one of five matches to not be played to a finish in China on Monday with Lois Boisson and Zheng Qinwen also suffering injuries on court, while Lorenzo Musetti and Jakub Mensik retired from their matches in the men’s tournament.

Starting last year, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) made it mandatory for top players to participate in each Grand Slam, 10 WTA 1,000 events – including Beijing – and six 500-level tournaments.

But Swiatek, 24, warned she may have to take breaks to protect herself.

“It’s just impossible to squeeze it in the schedule,” the former world number one said. “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.”

The amount of matches in the tennis calendar has been a major talking point in recent years, with players such as Novak Djokovic cutting back the number of tournaments they compete in as they near the end of their career.

Swiatek called the requirements “pretty crazy” for top players, adding that “people are more fatigued” in the second half of the season.

“I don’t know yet how my career is going to look like in a couple of years,” she added. “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.”

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