Iga Swiatek changes her mind about participating in the Billie Jean King Cup

Iga Swiatek has nothing against representing her home country, Poland. Far from it. She achieved this at the Olympic Games this year. She has already achieved this in the past at the Billie Jean King Cup. However, their problem with participating in the BJK Cup was how close the start of the tournament was to the end of the WTA Finals.

Swiatek has been at the top of the WTA for almost two years. She could safely assume that she would achieve great success in the WTA year-end event. This meant that not only did she have little time to rest between tournaments, but it was also difficult to organize the logistics of getting from one event to the next in a timely manner.

The Pole has not participated in the BJK Cup since she took part in qualifying matches at the beginning of 2022. She did not compete in qualifiers again in 2023, despite there being a gap in her schedule. The year 2024 was different as Swiatek helped Poland qualify for the finals but was expected not to take part again.

Not so quickly, however. The Pole changed his mind and decided to compete for Poland this year. That may be partly because Swiatek was a little more rested overall – she missed a few tournaments in October – but there are also a few days’ rest between the WTA Finals and the BJK Cup.

The tour’s year-end finale will take place November 2-9 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Billie Jean King Cup will take place from November 13th to 20th in Malaga, Spain. This means Swiatek has a few days off.

There is also a potentially more important aspect for the player. She recently changed trainers and hired Wim Fissette. Taking part in both tournaments in November will further improve the relationship between player and coach and help prepare the Pole for the start of the 2025 season. One of her goals is to win other Grand Slams in addition to the French Open (four times) and the US Open (once).

The best she has achieved at the Australian Open was the semi-finals in 2022, but in no other year has she made it past the fourth round. While she wants to win the WTA Finals and help Poland win the Billie Jean King Cup, playing both also has secondary value. Swiatek and Fissette will be better matched to try and take Swiatek’s first title in Melbourne.

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