Iga Swiatek playing it safe before French Open

Rome, May 19

Iga Swiatek said she was taking no chances with her fitness ahead of her French Open title defence later this month after the world No. 1 retired from her Italian Open quarterfinal due to a thigh issue. The French Open starts from May 28.

“For me, the most important thing is to kind of play it safe and not exploit my body so much in such difficult conditions, after having to play a few matches in the night session and after midnight,” Swiatek said. “To be ready for Roland Garros I need to recover right now. I’m going to take a couple of days off. With my quarterfinal loss, I have also time to then practise right before the tournament. I’m happy right now to have a few days off because since Stuttgart I wasn’t really able to recover with that tight schedule we have on the WTA,” she added. — Reuters