Former world no. 1 slams Iga Swiatek: 'You should be paid a lot less!'

World number one Iga Swiatek has become embroiled in a war of words with former two-time Grand Slam winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov after she told Sky Sports the schedule was becoming too busy.

Swiatek had just beaten Mirra Andreeva at the Cincinnati Open when she told reporters, “I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It’s not going to end well.”

The Pole continued, “It makes tennis less fun for us. Obviously, I love playing in all these places, but it’s pretty exhausting.”

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Swiatek’s rant at the Cincinnati Open continued, “I’m asking for rest. That doesn’t make sense, but the best players learn how to balance it out wherever the ATP or WTA are pushing. We will see in the future how it works out.”

This is not the first time Swiatek, or other players, have complained about the tennis schedule being “demanding,” with the 2024 French Open winner telling Eurosport that players, “don't have time to rest properly,” in May of this year.

With a busier schedule than ever, and a series of mandatory tournaments players must appear in, Swiatek claimed, “Overall, the Tour is getting more and more demanding,” which could lead to injury and burnout over time.

Former player and world number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov has slammed Swiatek’s claims of too much tennis on X (formerly Twitter), asking, “Is someone pushing you to play???” per Tennis365.

The Russian continued, “I’ll tell you what you deserve! You deserve to get paid a lot less than you do now!! How about that??”

For his part Kafelnikov has never been afraid to speak his mind, with Sun Sport describing him as “firey”. Despite his strong words against Swiatek, the two-time Grand Slam winner quit the sport at just 29, saying, “I started to lose to players who would hardly win a game against me when I was at my best,” per Sun Sport.

The Russian continued to explain his early retirement by saying, “I just said ‘look, I can’t take it anymore’ and that was when I really decided to quit.” Which begs the question, would he have been able to play at the top level for longer if he had been able to rest more?

Swiatek, who is still only 23, is concerned her busy schedule is only going to get worse, telling reporters, “Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely,” per Tennis365.

Swiatek, who has earned over $30,000,000 (£23,000,000/€27,000,0000) in her career from winnings alone per Tennis365, has been clear in what she wants in the future, but is she fair or is this a case of wanting her cake and eating it too?

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