Iga Swiatek Praised for Making ‘Wise Decision’ by Retired World No.1 After Pole Ends Her 2026 Season

The 2026 season is almost over. But quite a few top players from both the ATP and the WTA have already ended their season, with Iga Swiatek becoming the latest player to join this list.

Men’s World No.1 Jannik Sinner will lose his top spot to Alexander Zverev as he has not played a match since defeating Sascha in the Wimbledon final. He ended his season because of a knee injury.

His good friend Jack Draper has battled an arm injury since last year and last played in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters. Joao Fonseca and Amanda Anisimova, as well as Emma Navarro, are dealing with injury woes and won’t play anymore this season.

Swiatek, on the other hand, had first said she would try her best to qualify for the WTA Finals. But following her defeat to eventual champion Maja Chwalinska in the semifinal of the Wuhan Open, Swiatek withdrew from the Ningbo Open.

During her match against her compatriot, Swiatek picked up a thigh injury. Reacting to her decision to end her season, retired WTA World No.1 Kim Clijsters, on the Love All podcast, said:

I’m sure that she’s thought it through in great detail, and for her to come up with a decision like that, it didn’t take just a few minutes. This has been thought about often, and she’s had some injuries.

Swiatek has failed to qualify for the WTA Finals for the first time since 2019. She made her tournament debut in 2021 and won in 2023 by defeating Jessica Pegula.

So, I think it’s important to listen to your body and to then realize, like, ‘Okay, can I push myself to focus on these last few weeks and maybe get an injury that is going to take longer to heal or that needs longer care?’ Or is it worth pushing it for these last few weeks and knowing that it could maybe make it worse or it could have an impact on what’s coming up in 2027? So, in that sense, I do think it’s the wise decision.

Kim Clijsters added

After winning the WTA Finals in 2023, Swiatek failed to reach the semifinals in 2024 and 2025. Elena Rybakina will enter Indian Wells as the defending champion. Last year, in the event held in Riyadh, the Kazakh ace defeated Aryna Sabalenka.

Andy Roddick reacts to Iga Swiatek

Andy Roddick has backed Iga Swiatek‘s decision to end her 2026 season. According to the former ATP World No. 1, Swiatek’s biggest goal should be to win Grand Slams and do everything possible to achieve them, even at the cost of skipping tournaments and missing the year-end championships.

If there’s a leg injury and there is enough mental stress to cry your way through a loss in Wuhan, I don’t care about making the world tour finals if I’m Iga and if I’m on her team. […] If you’re a six-time Slam winner, you deal in wins and losses and Slams and No. 1 rankings. Your focus and your priority is not am I 10, am I eight, it’s getting ready so that you can ramp up and try to win a Slam next year.

Andy Roddick said on his Served podcast

Swiatek won just one title this season. After a topsy-turvy season, the six-time Grand Slam champion finally reached a final at the Canadian Open and ended her title drought by defeating Rybakina.

Also, for the first time since 2021, the former World No.1 will end a season without a Grand Slam title to her name. She made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and lost in the early rounds of the next three Majors, including at the French Open, where she is a four-time champion.

Also read: Carlos Alcaraz and Ex-Coach Juan Carlos Ferrero Are Set to Cross Paths Again at ATP Finals