King gets, disagrees with, Swiatek’s choice to skip BJK Cup

Associated PressNov 2, 2022, 11:00 AM EDT

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

FORT WORTH, Texas – Billie Jean King gets why No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek decided to skip the Billie Jean King Cup Finals because they are right after – and half a world away from – the WTA Finals.

King just figures she would have made a different choice.

“I can totally understand her reasoning. I personally wouldn’t agree with it. But you know what? It’s about her. She’s the one that’s having to deal with reality now; I don’t,” King, the owner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a two-time inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, said Tuesday during a video conference. “We’ll miss her.”

Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland with three major trophies, announced last month she would play in the WTA Finals happening now in Fort Worth, Texas, and skip the International Tennis Federation’s 12-nation team competition named in honor of King that will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from Nov. 8-13.

Complaining that the “situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury,” she said she was disappointed the sport’s governing bodies “didn’t come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments.”

WTA CEO Steve Simon acknowledged Tuesday that Swiatek is “not wrong.”

“This is a very tough schedule and a tough turnaround,” Simon said. “It’s something that we’re already talking about to see how we can fix that in the future.”

Swiatek leads women’s tennis with eight titles and a 64-8 record in 2022. She played her opening round-robin match Tuesday at the WTA Finals.

“I would have liked her to wait a little longer (to decide about the BJK Cup Finals), because you never know how you’re going to do. I mean, you just don’t know. And this is where you have to figure out for yourself what’s important to you,” King said. “For me, this would be a no-brainer.”

The WTA Finals were supposed to be held in Shenzhen, China, but were moved as part of the suspension of all tournaments in that country because of concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former Chinese government official of sexual assault, and COVID-19 restrictions there.

The selection of Fort Worth as a substitute site for just this year was announced in September. Simon said he would have preferred that the WTA Finals end on an earlier date, but the Texas arena had a concert scheduled last week that prevented access to the venue before Friday for setup that included installation of a temporary court.

Two members of the U.S. roster for the BJK Cup are at the WTA Finals, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff.

“We definitely knew (it) was a tough turnaround. But I think for me, it’s more of just a good problem to have. Of course, it’s not ideal,” Pegula said. “Everyone makes their own kind of personal decision as far as (what is) physically healthy, mentally-wise what they need to do, but hopefully, it’s just for this year.”

The other 10 countries in the BJK Cup Finals are Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Spain, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Raducanu, Stephens, Murray lose in first round at Miami Open

Associated PressMar 23, 2023, 12:00 AM EDT

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Former U.S. Open champions Emma Raducanu and Sloane Stephens were knocked out of the Miami Open on Wednesday, hours after No. 1-ranked and defending champion Iga Swiatek pulled out of the tournament because of a rib injury.

Bianca Andreescu – the 2019 U.S. Open champ – defeated Raducanu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Andreescu improved to 2-0 lifetime against Raducanu, the 2021 winner at Flushing Meadows.

“Miami has a special place in my heart,” Andreescu said. “I’ve been coming here since I was I think 12 years old, whether it’s for vacation or training or, yeah, Orange Bowl. I love that tournament very much. Yeah, coming back here, I think it’s just good vibes overall.”

Andreescu moves on to face 10th-ranked Maria Sakkari, who had a first-round bye.

Shelby Rogers beat Stephens 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Stephens has six hard-court titles, including the U.S. Open in 2017 and Miami in 2018.

Rogers will face Australian Open champion and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Rogers in the second round at Melbourne Park. Sabalenka is coming off a loss in the final at Indian Wells, California, last week.

On the men’s side, Dusan Lajovic beat three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-4, 7-5.

“I served pretty well, but the rest of the game was a bit of a problem today,” the 35-year-old Murray said. “Made a number of errors that obviously I wouldn’t expect to be making. I didn’t really feel like I moved particularly well, which is really important for me.”

Lajovic, a 32-year-old Serbian, will face Maxime Cressy, who had a first-round bye.

Swiatek withdrew because of a rib injury that she is hoping will heal during a break from competition. The 21-year-old from Poland also will sit out her country’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier matches against Kazakhstan on April 13-14.

“I wanted to wait ’til the last minute” to decide whether to play in Miami, Swiatek said at a news conference at the site of the hard-court tournament that began Tuesday. “We were kind of checking if this is the kind of injury you can still play with or this is kind when you can get things worse. So I think the smart move for me is to pull out of this tournament because I want to rest and take care of it properly.”

In other action, 24-year-old American J.J. Wolf defeated Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-3. He’ll face No. 7-ranked Andrey Rublev, who had a first-round bye.

Gael Monfils retired from his match against Ugo Humbert due to a persistent wrist injury.

Iga Swiatek out of Miami Open with rib injury

Associated PressMar 22, 2023, 12:29 PM EDT

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Defending champion Iga Swiatek withdrew from the Miami Open because of a rib injury that she is hoping will heal during a break from competition.

The No. 1-ranked Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland, also will sit out her country’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier matches against Kazakhstan on April 13-14.

“I wanted to wait ’til the last minute” to decide whether to play in Miami,” Swiatek said at a news conference at the site of the hard-court tournament. “We were kind of checking if this is the kind of injury you can still play with or this is kind when you can get things worse. So I think the smart move for me is to pull out of this tournament because I want to rest and take care of it properly.”

She was supposed to face Claire Liu in the second round.

As a seeded player, three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek received a first-round bye at an event she won a year ago during a 37-match unbeaten run that was the longest in women’s tennis in a quarter of a century.

“I was also aware at the beginning of the season that it’s going to be hard for me to defend all these (ranking) points,” she said, “because … these streaks, winning all these tournaments – looking logically and statistically, it’s not like it’s going to happen every year.”

Swiatek said after a 6-2, 6-2 loss to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals that her rib was bothering her. She explained in Miami that the problem first surfaced late in her quarterfinal victory against Sorana Cirstea a day earlier in California.

“Basically, it’s not like it happened in one minute or one second. It’s not, like, a serious thing, because we caught it … pretty early. So I felt like it was a process,” Swiatek said. “At first with these minor things, your body doesn’t feel anything.”

She said the issue was a problem “in certain movements,” including a “little bit when I served,” but Swiatek also said she’s not too worried about how long she will be sidelined.

The next Grand Slam tournament is the French Open, which Swiatek won last year for the second time. Play begins in Paris on May 28.

Instead of playing Swiatek, Liu will go up against 94th-ranked Julia Grabher, who lost in qualifying but now gets to move into the draw.

Liu advanced Tuesday when her first-round opponent, Katerina Siniakova, stopped playing in the second set because of a hurt wrist. Siniakova also pulled out of the doubles event with Barbora Krejcikova; the Czech duo has won the past four Grand Slam tournaments they’ve entered together, and seven major doubles titles overall.