Iga Swiatek addresses possibility of reducing schedule after advice from team

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek reveals some team members have urged her to explore the idea of reducing her schedule and focus on the most important ones but the 22-year-old Pole has no intention of doing that, at least not for now.

Last month, Swiatek won the opening WTA 1000 tournament of the year in Doha before also making the semifinal of a WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai the following week. In Dubai, Swiatek appeared to be a safe pick for back-to-back WTA 1000 titles but then got bounced 6-4 6-4 by Anna Kalinskaya in the semifinal.

Following her Dubai loss, Swiatek blamed fatigue and exhaustion as she said she was “so out of power” against Kalinskaya.

Upon arriving in Indian Wells, Swiatek highlighted that the 2024 Paris Olympics – starting on June 26th – will be a big goal of hers. But leading up to the Paris Olympics, Swiatek does not plan on lowering her workload and schedule.

“Some voices on my team are telling me to maybe play smarter and miss some events, focus on the important ones, maybe not rush for (ranking) points,” Swiatek said.

“I thought about that, but I still want to play everything at this stage. It would be hard for me to decide to miss tournaments and take time to be fresh and recover.

“I may do that later but (for now) I want to be ready for the Olympics and other important tournaments.”

Swiatek: I think I can handle playing a lot of tournaments

While feeling kind of helpless against Kalinskaya certainly wasn’t the greatest thing for Swiatek, the 22-year-old Pole remains optimistic and confident that she can handle a busy schedule. But Swiatek also left the door open to the possibility of reducing her schedule in the future.

“I think I can handle paying a lot of tournaments. I don’t want to miss any opportunities,” Swiatek said.

“Maybe when I get smarter with experience, but I like all these events, especially on clay. I would not be comfortable missing anything right now.”

In Indian Wells, 2022 champion Swiatek is the top-seeded player and is scheduled to meet Danielle Collins after having a first-round bye at the tournament