Iga Swiatek addressed recent frequent injuries among players ahead of her participation at the 2024 Italian Open.
The 22-year-old has been lucky, or well-prepared, enough in her tennis career to avoid any major injuries. Also thanks to that, she has been able to occupy the world no. 1 spot almost continuously throughout the last two seasons.
Although Swiatek has avoided injuries, there are many players at the moment, especially on the ATP Tour, who are struggling with injuries, and that's why many players were asked about it ahead of the Italian Open.
Elena Rybakina wasn't happy about the longer schedule, and Alexander Zverev echoed her claims. Swiatek is also aware of the fact that the sport is becoming more demanding, but not only because of the longer schedule.
"Well, I think overall, sport is more demanding because we play faster. I mean, on the other hand we're really focused on getting our physicality better. Sometimes you have more prevention because of that. On the other hand, everybody is stronger. Everybody is moving little bit better. It's also harder to win matches."
The Pole admitted that it was difficult for her to address an issue that seemed to be more prevalent on the ATP Tour at the moment, as top female players don't seem to be struggling with injuries as much as men at the moment.
"I mean, it's hard for me to compare ATP tennis on clay and hard. I'm not that kind of specialist actually in terms of analyzing to know why they have injuries now. Maybe on the other hand it's just a coincidence that it happened only couple of days."
Still, the world no. 1 said that the Tour is becoming more demanding every year because of the rules of the mandatory tournaments, which are now not one-week, but two-week events.
"Well, yeah, I think overall the tour is getting more and more demanding because of the length of the tournaments and all these mandatory rules, both on ATP and WTA. We'll see what it's going to bring in the future. For sure scheduling-wise, the planning is going to be more important, sometimes even passing some tournaments that are important for you, for you to be ready for next one."