Winning titles is very tempting for any player, but what about the lingering stress when the time between tours is short? Tennis players have been raging over the crazy scheduling of their professional calendar for long. Players like Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff to former legend Andy Roddick have expressed concerns over players’ fitness, given they are required to play frequent tournaments. Adding her bits to the matter, Iga Swiatek opens up about her challenges before the upcoming US Open.
Swiatek won the French Open, then transitioned to the grass season, and then earned a bronze for Poland in the Paris Olympics. Within days of that victory, she had to attend the Cincinnati Open to keep her form intact for the calendar’s last Grand Slam, the US Open. Swiatek said, “Our calendar is crazy, probably the toughest one in sports“.
In a press conference for the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek further delved deeper into her statement and said, “There are sports that are really tough because, physically, you might get beat up. But most sports have four months off, sometimes even six. Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely.“
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For Swiatek, 2024 has been a hectic year. However, she has shown great promise by owning five tour-best titles this season. Swiatek won titles in Doha, Madrid, Indian Wells, Rome, the French Open, and a bronze in the Olympics. Despite reliving her father’s ’88 Seoul Olympics moment in Paris, Swiatek expressed a difficult calendar for the tennis players. She played in the Olympics on clay and is now moving to the hard course for Cincinnati and the US Open. Given the very limited time window between these events, it has become crucial for her to maintain fitness.
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via Getty LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 06: Iga Swiatek of Poland looks dejected as she plays against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in her Ladies’ Singles third round match during day six of The Championships Wimbledon 2024 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 06, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Cincinnati Open will be Swiatek’s first hard-court tournament since March. She expressed about treating it like a practice championship and revealed her strategy for the upcoming matches. While the world number 1 is usually very confident, this time, she is keeping a low expectation about her form on the surface.
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Iga Swiatek revealed “ taking it easy “ in Cincinnati
For any tennis player, moving from one surface to another in a short time is difficult. Swiatek mentioned at the Media Day for the Cincinnati Open, “We’re taking it easy, doing everything step by step. For sure, it’s not going to be perfect from the beginning but I had a couple days to really get used to the surface, so I’m trying to do the best job possible every day and entering the court next day knowing I can do something better,” she said. Swiatek’s statement expressed her concern over playing well in Cincinnati when she barely had some days to prepare for the hard surface.
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“I’m going to treat it as a practice tournament, Not in a way that I don’t care but in the way that I want to implement all the stuff I’ve been practiced, and I think that’s the best approach for me,” Swiatek concluded.
For this her, hard work has no boundaries. Despite that, her statements showcase the intense pressure on tennis players to maintain their form by attending tournaments constantly. Athletes have crazy schedules and require utmost dedication if they want to succeed like Swiatek.