Iga Swiatek gets brutal four-word reply from rival after threatening to break WTA rules

Iga Swiatek has received some pushback after suggesting the tennis season was "too long and too intense". Players on the women's tour are required to play 10 WTA 1000s and six WTA 500 events every year, and can be penalised in the rankings if they don't meet the threshold.

With most of the bigger tournaments now lasting almost two weeks, the schedule is taking a toll on players like Swiatek. The world No. 2 has admitted that she may have to go against what's required and start skipping some events.

Swiatek isn't the only player who has spoken about the relentless nature of the tennis tour. But Qinwen Zheng couldn't agree with the Wimbledon champion's latest comments, and claimed: "The strongest players survive."

Plenty of top players have started carefully picking and choosing their tournaments, even if they are mandatory. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka didn't play in Beijing this week, while top-ranked ATP star Carlos Alcaraz has pulled out of the Shanghai Masters.

And Swiatek believes she will have to follow suit in order to avoid injuries. "For me, like, I don't know yet how my career is going to look like in a couple years," the six-time Grand Slam champion said at the China Open.

"Maybe I will have to choose some tournaments and skip them, even though they are mandatory. Yeah, like WTA with all these mandatory rules, they made this pretty crazy for us.

"I don't think any top player will actually be able to achieve this, for example, playing the six 500 tournaments. It's just impossible to squeeze it in the schedule."

For now, Swiatek is prioritising her body and recovery when she does enter the mandatory events. But she still isn't happy with the schedule.

"There are a lot of injuries. I think it is because the season is too long and too intense," she added.

However, not everyone agrees with Swiatek. Olympic champion Zheng has suggested that players who are "strong enough" will be able to play all of the required competitions.

Zheng herself has been struggling with injuries of late. She returned from a three-month injury layoff at the China Open in Beijing, having undergone elbow surgery over the summer, and won a match before retiring in the third round.

But the world No. 9 has no issues with the relentless schedule. "I mean, this is part of the games. As a professional player, I mean, this is what it is because we have to play that many tournament because there is in the calendar," she said.

"I think my situation's different than them. I'm coming from surgery, which is a really rushed decision for me to be playing here. But also is the right decision for me because I want to see where my body is right now. Okay, now I know to compete in a third set, the amount of hitting the balls is too much for me.

"But I don't think for professional player the calendar is too much because the strongest players survive, and that's the rules in my head."

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