Iga Swiatek has become the centre of a big debate, despite not openly voicing any opinions of her own on the topic.
Swiatek is through to the Cincinnati Open semifinals, with her latest victory coming against Anna Kalinskaya.
As a result, this means that Swiatek has the opportunity to overtake Coco Gauff and become world number two once again.
While this has all been happening, there have been some pointed comments about Swiatek’s schedule in Cincinnati.
Rick Macci appears to make a dig at Brad Gilbert after defending Iga Swiatek
Prior to Swiatek’s fourth round match at the Cincinnati Open, Coco Gauff’s former coach Brad Gilbert suggested that she is always in first slot of the day at 11am.
Gilbert then speculated if Swiatek and Wim Fissette make a request to tournaments so that she can play at 11am.
He wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “You don’t even have to look at schedule and know Iga pop on first at 11am. Wonder [if] her team ask for that or just happens that way a lot.”
Gilbert received a lot of backlash for these comments, and now appears to have received a pointed dig from another top coach.
Former coach of Serena and Venus Williams, Rick Macci, defended Swiatek and told other coaches to stop complaining.
Macci said, “Iga did not make the draw or who she played at Wimbledon. She did not make the schedule of playing times in Cincinnati. Coaches need to focus on no more excuses and training instead of chirping and complaining.”
What time have Iga Swiatek’s matches been scheduled in Cincinnati?
While people may not agree with Gilbert’s comments, Swiatek has played three of her four matches at 11am at the Cincinnati Open.
| Scheduled Time | |
| Second Round vs Anastasia Potapova | 11am |
| Third Round vs Marta Kostyuk | Received a walkover |
| Fourth Round vs Sorana Cirstea | 11am |
| Quarterfinal vs Anna Kalinskaya | 11am |
| Semifinal vs Elena Rybakina | 1pm |
One of those was in the quarterfinal against Kalinskaya, who expressed her frustrations about her own scheduling ahead of her match with Swiatek.
She wrote on social media at the time, “How can the WTA and tournament expect athletes to perform their best when the scheduling is this unfair? After my match against [Ekaterina] Alexandrova, I got home from the site at 2:40am and didn’t go to bed until 4am. I slept a bit and came to the site to practice.
“Then I get scheduled at 11am for tomorrow’s match – how does the tournament and WTA expect me to recover and continuously adjust my sleep pattern, which is one of the most important aspects of recovery? Seems a bit one-sided”
Players are entitled to make scheduling requests to tournaments, and Swiatek did admit at Roland Garros earlier this year that she prefers playing in the day to have a longer rest.
“Yeah, I mean, every year we talk about it,” Swiatek said in her press conference at the time. “My position didn’t change. I like playing days, so I’m happy that I’m done and I can have a longer rest.
“But on the other hand, yeah, people just try to look for, like, not even things between men and women. You can find that in the schedule a little bit, and you can ask us all the time, but honestly, my answers are not gonna change, so I don’t mind.”
While Swiatek is not playing her Cincinnati Open semifinal against Elena Rybakina at 11am, she is still first on the schedule.
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