Iga Swiatek defended by WTA rival after being attacked in rant by former world No 1
Daria Kasatkina has defended Iga Swiatek after the world No 1 was lambasted by her Russian compatriot and former tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
During the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek claimed there are too many tournaments in the tennis season and warned “it’s not going to end well” for players.
“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 after her quarter-final win against Mirra Andreeva.
“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.”
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In a reply to a post on X sharing Swiatek’s comments, Kafelnikov hit out at the five-time Grand Slam champion and argued she should earn less money.
The former world No 1 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??”
Kasatkina responded to Kafelnikov’s rant by sharing a comparison of the two-time major winner’s career prize money total compared to that of Swiatek’s.
Kafelnikov made $23,883,797 in his career, while Swiatek has already earned $31,419,512, and Kasatkina thinks this is why her fellow Russian is angry with the 23-year-old Polish star.
“Now I see why you are so p**sed (laughing emoji),” the 27-year-old wrote on X.
Swiatek reached the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati and was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by world No 3 Aryna Sabalenka.
Kasatkina, the current world No 12, also featured in Cincinnati and lost 1-6, 6-2, 1-6 to Taylor Townsend in the second round.
