Iga Swiatek admits she is in a ‘comfortable’ situation concerning the scheduling of her matches but she has sympathy for those who have been affected by poor weather at the Australian Open.
Organizers of the Grand Slam are facing criticism over their management of the tournament after some players were left waiting until the early hours of Wednesday morning to learn when they will be playing. A series of matches on Tuesday had to be either cancelled or suspended at the tournament due to a combination of extreme heat followed by rain. Doubles player Jamie Murray voiced his frustration on social media by writing “If you can’t release a schedule until 0030 and majority of players go to bed not knowing if they’re playing or not – why would you decide to start matches at 11am?”
The Australian Open does have three courts which have roofs on them which is more than any other Grand Slam venue. Speaking about the situation following her 6-2, 6-3, win over Colombia’s Camila Osorio, top seed Swiatek said it is ‘bad’ that her peers had to wait for so long before finding out when they will be playing next. The Pole was on court for just 85 minutes during her second round clash where she hit a total of 19 winners and broke Osorio six times.
“I’m in a pretty comfortable position that I was able to play this match and I knew that it’s going to be under the roof so it’s not going to get rescheduled,” Swiatek told reporters during her press conference.
“But, well, I think it’s really bad for the players that had to wait yesterday whole day here because it’s really tiring, and they probably are going to have to stay another day on site.
“There’s nothing I think the tournament organisers can do, but I’m surprised that they didn’t put yesterday’s matches earlier today on the stadiums, but I don’t know how it works, honestly. Maybe they have like TV rights to put seeded players or whatever on the stadiums.”
Fortunately for tournament director Craig Riley and his team, the Australian Open has been given a reprieve with the weather forecast predicting cooler temperatures and a smaller chance of rain over the next couple of days. Enough time to get all the matches back on track.
Meanwhile, Swiatek continues to generate momentum in her quest for a maiden Australian Open title and her fourth at a Grand Slam overall. Unlike some players, the 21-year-old has so far managed to escape suffering any serious injury issues in her career. Something she credits to the work she does with her team.
“It’s not a matter of luck. We (my team) are just working pretty hard for me to be in good shape and I have a really good physio/conditioning coach, Maciej Ryszczuk. He’s one of a kind, honestly. He’s just really good and a really good specialist. I have complete trust in him. Since we started working together I haven’t had many problems.” She said.
Swiatek is now 13-2 in second round matches played at Grand Slam tournaments and has won the last 12 of those. This year is her fifth consecutive main draw appearance at the Australian Open.
