Iga Swiatek proposes new rule change after BJKC Finals date switch

Friday, 26 September 2025 at 21:59

byErik Virostko

Iga Swiatek appears to be very passionate about the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, especially since she had to miss the event on multiple occasions due to scheduling conflicts.

Previously, the Billie Jean King Cup Finals were held at the end of November. That was something that many players were not happy about, as it unnecessarily extended their seasons.

This year, the WTA and the ITF listened to the players' complaints. The Billie Jean King Cup Finals were played at the start of the Asian swing in September. The tournament was also held in Shenzhen, China, so it didn't create any logistical nightmare for the players.

Still, some of the players chose to miss it. For example, American No. 1 Coco Gauff missed the tournament, as did British No. 1 Emma Raducanu, who initially appeared on the entry list but later withdrew.

Iga Swiatek is also one of the players who missed the event. However, she had a different reason, as Poland didn't even qualify for this year's Finals after finishing second in Group E of the Qualifiers behind Ukraine.

However, Swiatek knows that there might be an opportunity for her to compete at the event in the future. She was asked about the Billie Jean King Cup Finals during her participation in the China Open in Beijing, and the Polish player had proposed a rule change for the WTA.

She has been an advocate for making the tennis schedule shorter and less demanding, and after the BJKC Finals were relocated to an earlier date, Swiatek would like to see one more change. She would want to have one fewer mandatory WTA 500 event for players competing in the team competition.

"I haven't because I knew I'm not playing these Finals. But I think it's a good decision in terms of the scheduling because it's just tough in November for a player who don't play the WTA Finals to be kind of still in the season for more weeks and not be able to go on vacation because, I mean, okay maybe I shouldn't speak about vacation, but let's be honest, we don't have time during the year. We need to do that for our bodies, as well."

"Other players will wait. Other players will go on holidays, then practice a couple days, play Billie Jean King Cup Finals, which also is not perfect. Yeah, putting it right now, I think it's better. But the question is if, actually, finally, maybe ITF and WTA talk together, and maybe these players don't have to play these six mandatory 500s, or five, because they have one week less to do that."

"That's the question. Honestly, I got to say, because I didn't play, I don't know these rules (smiling). If WTA treated this as another tournament, maybe let them not have the six mandatory 500s, I think it would be nice. But I have no idea how it is."

In practice, Swiatek's idea could make sense. Still, one of the reasons why there are mandatory WTA 500 events is to make them profitable for the tournament organizers by having some of the best players in the world compete.

There's a question of whether this is a rule the WTA would be willing to change, but the Polish player will certainly be one of those leading the discussion if it arises.