Iga Swiatek has been an outspoken critic of the tennis calendar, and she raised the issue again, as she committed to highlighting the problem.
There has been a noticeable shift in how young players speak about the tennis calendar compared to players 10 or 20 years ago. The attitude itself hasn't shifted much because even a decade ago, some of the best players were quite vigilant about their schedules.
Novak Djokovic is a famous example. He started managing his schedule very early in his career, which some found weird. Fast-forward to now, when the 37-year-old is beating players 15 years younger than him, and it shows why it mattered.
Most of the younger players have adopted a similar stance in that they're very careful about their schedule because, by now, they know it matters. The better they organize it, the more likely they are to maximize their full potential as a player.
Carlos Alcaraz has spoken about it. Swiatek has spoken about it, and her career trajectory has demonstrated that the system is wrong. A few years ago, the Pole found herself under fire for skipping the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
As a very proud Pole, her absence from the event didn't make sense. She defended it by pointing to the schedule, and she was right. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to play; it was that she couldn't without risking injury.
Since then, she's become an outspoken critic of the schedule, calling for its reduction. In her most recent interview with Sky Sports during her stay in Cincinnati, Swiatek once again spoke about the topic, warning the WTA that pushing players to play more and more will not end well.
"I've been kind of an advocate saying that we shouldn't, like, I don't know, be pushing and pushing for us to play more. Obviously, it's not our decision, but for sure, we have too many tournaments in the season."
"It's not going to end well. It just makes tennis less fun for us. Obviously, I love playing in all these places. It's pretty exhausting, and I think most of the ATP players would tell you that."
In recent years, there has been a silent push for players to play more, and it's financially driven. Everyone benefits from the best players playing most events, except the players themselves, but as Swiatek noted, they are not the decision-makers.
The Pole is adamant that things shouldn't be done this way, but time will tell whether anything will change. Tim Henman joked on the broadcast that she could always win less to reduce the workload.
Obviously, the Polish player wants to win as much as possible, and while others might not feel the demands as much, because of playing less, she wishes she could get more rest.
"I don't think it should be like that because we deserve to rest a little bit more. I know people might hate me for that, asking for more rest but it's hard to keep up with the Tour."
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