Iga Swiatek says she is ready to \u2018fight for every match\u2019 at the French Open while also responding to criticism over recent withdrawals by insisting players \u2018are not slaves\u2019 to be punished.<\/p>\n
12 months ago, the Pole arrived in Paris chasing a fourth consecutive title and the chance to join Suzanne Lenglen (1920-23) as the only women to achieve the feat, having previously lifted the trophy in 2022, 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n
This time, Swiatek<\/a> enters the tournament after an inconsistent season in which she is yet to reach a final.<\/p>\n Her most recent event, the Italian Open, brought her first semi-final of the year after a straight-forward win over American Jessica Pegula in the last eight.<\/p>\n Swiatek was then outlasted 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the semi-finals after an error-strewn performance in the first and third sets.<\/p>\n The former champion will open her French Open campaign against Emerson Jones, before facing Sara Bejlek or a qualifier in the second round.<\/p>\n However, Jelena Ostapenko is projected to await in the third round, with the Latvian leading their head-to-head 6-0.<\/p>\n Alexander Zverev gives injury update after being seen in pain during French Open practice<\/a><\/p>\n Novak Djokovic confident he has \u2018options\u2019 to end Jannik Sinner run and win French Open after injury update<\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think I will take good experience from this year\u2019s Rome and, like, positive feedback also after the matches,\u201d she said during her pre-tournament French Open press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I also had the chance to play under pressure, I also had the chance to play short matches. I get the vibe of the matches. I\u2019m in, like, the match rhythm, which is great, comparing to last year.<\/p>\n \u201cBut still, this is a totally different tournament with different conditions right now, especially with the heat. So you need to, like, be humble and start knowing that you\u2019re willing to fight for every match.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in her press conference, Swiatek was also asked to respond to criticism from Salah Tahlak, the tournament director of the Dubai Championships, following her withdrawal in February.<\/p>\n Swiatek, along with Aryna Sabalenka, pulled out of the event just one day before the draw was made \u2013 a move which provoked the comments.<\/p>\n Under WTA rules, players can face fines for withdrawing from mandatory events, while ranking penalties can also apply in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n However, Tahlak called for harsher punishments for late withdrawals, arguing that financial fines are not a sufficient deterrent.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel they should deduct points from the players, monetary fine won\u2019t help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMany years ago, Serena Williams withdrew and was fined $100,000. But what is $100,000? She would play someplace else and make $1,000,000. So the fine isn\u2019t a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Swiatek, however, pushed back against the idea, making clear that players should not be forced into competing when not fit or ready.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t. I heard about the complaints, but I didn\u2019t hear about the penalty, probably because it\u2019s a bit ridiculous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, we have a right to withdraw any time we want, so I don\u2019t see the problem, honestly. If we are not fit or we don\u2019t feel like this is the right time for us to play a tournament, like, are we slaves?<\/p>\n \u201cLike, we are allowed to decide. I don\u2019t see the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Iga Swiatek declares players are not \u2018slaves\u2019 as she explains new French Open outlook<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Iga Swiatek says she is ready to \u2018fight for every match\u2019 at the French Open while also responding to criticism over recent withdrawals by insisting players \u2018are not slaves\u2019 to be punished. 12 months ago, the Pole arrived in Paris chasing a fourth consecutive title and the chance to join Suzanne Lenglen (1920-23) as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Latest Tennis News<\/h2>\n