Former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has slammed Iga Swiatek after her comments about the tennis schedule being too demanding.
The two-time Grand Slam champion hit out at Swiatek for complaining and claimed the Polish star deserves to be paid “a lot less” than she is.
Following her quarter-final win over Mirra Andreeva at the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek argued there are too many tournaments in the tennis season.
What can I say? I’ve been kind of an advocate in saying that we shouldn’t, I don’t know… be pushing and pushing for us to play more,” the world No 1 told Sky Sports.
“Obviously it is not our decision, but for sure I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It’s not going to end well.
“It makes tennis less fun for us. Obviously, I love playing in all these places, but it’s pretty exhausting. Most of the players will tell you that. Especially when you are playing at the higher level and going to the end of tournaments.
I don’t think it should be like that because we deserve to rest a little bit more. Maybe people are going to hate me for saying that.
“I’m asking for rest. That doesn’t make sense, but the best players learn how to balance it out wherever the ATP or WTA are pushing. We will see in the future how it works out.”
In a post on X responding to a video of Swiatek’s interview, Kafelnikov took issue with the five-time Grand Slam champion and suggested she is not being forced to play.
The Russian wrote: “Is someone pushing you to play??? All you fricking do is complain!!
“I’ll tell you what you deserve! You deserve to get paid a lot less than you do now!! How about that??”
Ahead of her appearance in Cincinnati, Swiatek had asserted that the relentless tennis calendar was getting worse every year.
“Our calendar is crazy, probably the toughest one in sports,” the 23-year-old said in a press conference.
“There are sports that are really tough because, physically, you might get beat up. But most sports have four months off, sometimes even six.
“Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely.”
Swiatek will face world No 3 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in Cincinnati as she aims to reach the final at the WTA 1000 event for the first time.
