Iga Swiatek directly blamed scheduling in tennis for her Dubai loss as the world No. 2 bluntly stated that in the circumstances "anybody can win these tournaments."
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On Thursday, the Polish tennis star saw her campaign at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai come to an end in the quarterfinal after Mirra Andreeva claimed a 6-3 6-3 win in their matchup.
Last week, Swiatek's run in Doha finished in the semifinal with a brutal 3-6 1-6 defeat to Jelena Ostapenko.
And after picking up her second surprise defeat during the Middle East swing, the 23-year-old claimed that she clearly knew what was to blame.
It probably should be mentioned that before the Pole, Aryna Sabalenka also exited Dubai in the round-of-16 while Coco Gauff lost her opener at the tournament.
Swiatek: It's a calendar thing... Anybody can win
For sure its a calendar thing, the five-time Grand Slam winner said.
Like, were not going to be able to be consistent for many years playing week by week. Also, its not like some time ago that outside of, like, top-20 players, they were just getting destroyed more.
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Now anybody can win these tournaments. It is like that since couple of years. But I feel like for sure the calendar is not helping.
Again, like, we need to switch continents, we need to switch surfaces, we need to switch the balls. Yeah, its not easy. Im not surprised.
Against Andreeva, Swiatek lost her serve four times and converted only one of her eight break point opportunities.
Evidently, the 23-year-old was far away from her usual game.
Honestly, Im not that direct usually, but I would blame this performance on the lack of practice before because I didnt have time," the Pole added.
Next up for Swiatek will be the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, where she returns as the defending champion.
