Swiatek hits out at 'too intense' schedule for top tennis stars

London: Five time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek believes fans are being robbed of seeing tennis biggest names performing at their best due to the i...

London: Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek believes fans are being robbed of seeing tennis' biggest names performing at their best due to the intensity of a relentless schedule.

Swiatek, who has consistently spoken out about the physical and mental demands placed upon top players, said the number of mandatory events on the WTA Tour was ruining the spectacle for fans ahead of the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday.

"I think the scheduling is super intense. It's too intense. There's no point for us to play, like, over 20 tournaments in a year," Swiatek said at her pre-Wimbledon press conference on Sunday.

"Sometimes we need to sacrifice playing for your country because we need to keep up with playing these WTA 500s, for example, because we're going to get a zero in the ranking.

"I think these kind of obligations and the rules about mandatory tournaments just put pressure on us.