Iga Swiatek to skip the Billie Jean King finals for the second consecutive year, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula also follow the suit

Iga Swiatek has called out the inappropriate scheduling multiple times.

Iga Swiatek to skip the Billie Jean King finals for the second consecutive year, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula also follow the suit

Jessica Pegula, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff (Images via US Sun, China Open X, Tennis.com)

World No.2 Iga Swiatek, who recently won the WTA 1000 tournament in China, will be giving the Billie Jean King finals a miss this year as well. Swiatek had not taken part in the tournament last year and had cited inappropriate scheduling as the reason. The reason seems to be the same this year as well. Apart from Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula will also miss the prestigious tournament. 

The reason for Pegula and Gauff also seems to be the scheduling. The Billie Jean King Cup finals are scheduled to start on 7 November, just two days after the conclusion of the WTA Finals, wherein all three players will be featured. The news of the three players missing the Billie Jean King Cup finals was confirmed after the teams were announced on Monday.

While Poland announced Magda Linette, Magdalena Frech, Katarzyna Kawa, and Weronika Falkowska in the team with Dawid Celt leading the side, the American squad has Madison Keys, Sofia Kenin, Danielle Collins, Sloane Stephens, and Taylor Townsend with Kathy Rilandi leading the side. The squads of other teams also don’t have players from the list who will be participating in the WTA Final except Elena Rybakina.

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Iga Swiatek has been calling out WTA for inappropriate scheduling

Iga Swiatek has been pretty vocal in terms of expressing her disappointment over the inappropriate scheduling from the WTA. While she had criticized the women’s tennis body for not caring about players during the Canada Open, calling out late-night matches, Swiatek pulled out of the Guadalajara Open due to a change of schedule.

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Iga Swiatek in a press conference (Image via China Open X)

“Unfortunately I need to withdraw from the tournament in Guadalajara due to a change of schedule,” Swiatek posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I need to listen to my body and the season is very intense — our number one priority is to play it until the end in good health and plan it wisely so we wouldn’t risk an injury.”

Last year, after pulling out of the Billie Jean King Cup finals, Swiatek lashed out at the WTA saying that playing two high-intensity tournaments (the WTA Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup finals) back-to-back is not healthy for the players. The Polish ace has expressed outright disappointment at WTA’s failure to take care of such a basic thing.

“I’m disappointed that [the] tennis governing bodies didn’t come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments, giving us only one day to travel through the globe and changing the time zone,” Swiatek had written on social media. “This situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury.”

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