Iga Swiatek missed this year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals, and she didn't feel much when criticism from her home country came because of it.
Swiatek is a proud Polish woman who loves her country and wants to play for it anytime she can. The problem is that she can't really do that because of the way her career turned out and what the schedule looks like.
For example, she's missed a few Billie Jean King Cup Finals because she was busy playing the WTA Finals the week before. It's simply not advisable for her to push herself so much and play two big events back-to-back, especially with travels and everything else.
It's something she wants to see change in the future because she truly wants to play for her country but nothing changed as of now. The WTA No. 1 missing the event is a bad look, which Billie Jean King herself criticized.
Former legendary Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska also criticized Swiatek for missing the event, but she's not really fussed about it. She doesn't really pay any attention to what other people think.
"Honestly, I didn't feel offended because it didn't really matter to me. Each of us has completely different careers and they are managed differently. Even though we had the same coach (Tomasz Wiktorowski), sometimes we make different decisions.
Despite not caring much about what Radwanska said, Swiatek holds her in high regard and respects her a lot. She's a Polish legend who helped grow the sport in the country and played for it proudly and many times.
Agnieszka undoubtedly deserved a lot, thanks to her the Polish national team achieved great results and - as she said - she was available all the time. It's just that given the progress I've made and the fact that I'm number 1, I also have a lot of responsibilities off the court.
Speaking further to Super Express, Swiatek confirmed that she doesn't want to miss the event and wants to play, but she has to prioritize certain things. They are difficult decisions for her to make, but that's life, making the tough choices.
Besides, you can see in the statistics that it was the second season I have played the most matches in the tour. I realize that sometimes, unfortunately, I will have to make such decisions, especially with the two tournaments on two different continents two days apart. These decisions were definitely demanding and difficult.
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