Iga Swiatek withdraws from US Open event – ‘It’s best for me’
Iga Swiatek has become one of the first high-profile players to withdraw from the US Open mixed doubles event with the former world No 1 admitting her recent schedule has taken its toll.
The six-time Grand Slam winner has enjoyed an incredible August as she won the Canadian Open and reached the semi-final of the Cincinnati Open before going down in three sets against Jessica Pegula.
Following a poor grass-court season that ended with her Wimbledon title defence ending in the third round with defeat to Alex Eala, Swiatek looked like her old self again on the North American hard courts.
Following her run to the last four in Cincinnati, the Pole was due to return to action on Tuesday in the revamped US Open mixed doubles event alongside Casper Ruud, but she has decided to take a longer break ahead of the singles campaign.
“Looking back at a physically demanding few weeks on court and after speaking to my Team, I’ve decided it’s best for me to pass on mixed doubles at the US Open this year. Right now, I need to rest, recharge and fully focus on preparing for the singles tournament,” she wrote.
“As always, I was really looking forward to playing alongside @casperruud – so Casper, till next time.”
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Swiatek and Ruud finished runner-up to runner-up to Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori last year and they received direct entries into this year’s tournament as they looked to go one better.
Organisers are yet to confirm who will replace the pair in the main draw with Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz set to be the headline act after they received wildcards along with Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jakub Mensik and Karolina Muchova, Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, and Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev.
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic are set to be the top seeds with Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz also taking part in the tournament.
With the main draw for the US Open singles starting on 30 August, it won’t be too big a surprise if more stars pull out of the mixed doubles event.
The mixed doubles competition will take place on 25 and 26 August at Flushing Meadows, giving players very little time to recover for the singles.
