Iga Swiatek has changed her plans at the last moment as the Polish tennis superstar won’t be kicking off her Asian swing at the WTA 500 tournament in Seoul next week.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the world No. 1 agreed to come to Seoul for this year’s tournament edition following a disappointing US Open exit. But now two days later, the news dropped that the Swiatek withdrew from the tournament.
For the Seoul organizers, it was just yet another major blow since previously three other top-10 players pulled out of the event – Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro.
What’s next for Swiatek?
Now that the five-time Grand Slam champion won’t play Seoul, she will very likely return to action at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, which starts on September 25th. There, the Pole will return as the defending champion, having won it all in her debut last year after beating Liudmila Samsonova in the final.
Meanwhile, when it was revealed that Swiatek signed up to play in South Korea, many weren’t surprised since she indicated after a surprise US Open quarterfinal loss that she wouldn’t take a break and that she would soon play again.
don’t want to take a break. It’s tough. It could be a little bit easier, but I’m keeping up with the schedule. I’m only talking about mandatory tournaments and there are rules about mandatory tournaments. But I’m ready for playing till November, I guess, unless I’m going to get injured,” the 23-year-old said at Flushing Meadows.
Also, it made sense for the Pole to play next week because many thought she would want to quickly bounce back after a disastrous US Open performance versus Pegula, during which she hit a stunning 41 unforced errors and heavily struggled on her serve.
But Swiatek ultimately decided not to play in South Korea and fans will very likely see her in action in China in two weeks.