Earlier this year, in June, Iga Świątek made headlines when she openly criticized the demanding tennis calendar, saying, “The scheduling is super intense. It’s too intense. There’s no point for us to play over 20 tournaments in a year.” Her concerns echoed those of several top players across both the WTA and ATP tours, leading Novak Djokovic’s PTPA to call out major tournaments and governing bodies for failing to prioritize player welfare. Now, with the 2025 season officially wrapped and a new year approaching, the conversation is far from over. Novak Djokovic’s Professional Tennis Players Association is once again rallying behind Świątek, reinforcing her stance as they push tennis authorities to reconsider tournament scheduling and protect athletes’ longevity.

In a recent post on X, the official account of PTPA reshared one of Iga Świątek’s earlier statements from a September interview with ESPN. At the time, Świątek criticized the WTA’s mandatory tournament structure, saying, “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, playing the six 500 tournaments. It’s just impossible to squeeze it in the schedule. I think we have to be smart about it, not really, unfortunately, care about the rules and just think what’s healthy for us.”

Alongside her quote, the PTPA added a strong message of support: “This is about more than money — it’s about dignity, safety, and respect. Iga Świątek is calling out the impossible demands placed on players — from mandatory rules to overloaded schedules that ignore what’s actually healthy.”

(More to come…)