Iga Swiatek’s decision to end her 2026 season early has received the backing of Kim Clijsters with the Grand Slam winner saying, “it’s important to listen to your body”.
The six-time Grand Slam winner picked up a thigh injury during her Wuhan Open semi-final match against Maja Chwalinska and she opted to finish the match as she ignored calls from her coaching team to retire.
Swiatek ended up losing in straight sets and it came as no surprise when she withdrew from the Ningbo Open with the decision ending her hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals.
The world No 9 then took the difficult decision to finish her campaign, stating: “The past few months, or actually the past couple of years, have been incredibly intense and I feel I need to rest and recover my body fully.”
It is the first time since making her breakthrough in 2020 that Swiatek has not seen out the season and Clijsters “trusts” the decision.
Iga Swiatek News
In the latest Love All podcast, the former world No 1 said: “I’m sure that she’s thought it through in great detail and for her to come up with a decision like that, it didn’t take just a few minutes. This has been thought about often, and she’s had some injuries.
“So, I think it’s important to listen to your body and to then realise, like, ‘okay, can I push myself to focus on these last few weeks and maybe get an injury that is going to take longer to heal or that needs longer care?’
“Or is it worth pushing it for these last few weeks and knowing that it could maybe make it worse or it could have an impact on what’s coming up in 2027?
“So, in that sense, I do think it’s the wise decision. Do we know all the details about it? Maybe it’s worse than what she’s explaining or addressing.
“Of course, I trust every player when they come up with an end-of-season [decision], because there must be more going on than maybe a lot of times what they’re showing or expressing.”
The Belgian went into detail about the importance of not ignoring small injuries and pushing through the pain barrier.
She added: “Also the off-court stuff, right? Like it’s like learning to listen to your body and understand like, ‘oh, this is a little bit of a sore muscle or is this a small tear?’ Like you learn to feel the difference, but it takes time to say, like, ‘okay, now I have to make the right decision and not push myself’.
“But I’ve definitely been in that situation where I made an injury worse because I was like, ‘you know, I’ll figure it out like on the court and it’s not going to be that bad, it’s probably just a sore muscle ‘, and you kind of go over it a little bit too lightly.
“It’s important to learn those lessons the hard way at times. Good for her for kind of listening, you know, and knowing where maybe part of her weaknesses are and you know, maybe at times also try something different.”
