Swiatek pulls out of Madrid to protect sore shoulder after epic start to 2022

Iga Swiatek will not play in next week’s Madrid Open as she looks to protect a sore right shoulder after an intense start to the year which has yielded four straight titles and seen her become world No 1.

The Pole announced the news on media day in Madrid, explaining that she wants to ensure she is at the peak of her powers for Rome, where she is the defending champion, and then at Roland-Garros, where she won the title in 2019.

“Basically, it’s not like we have some drama because everything is okay,” the WTA reported Swiatek as saying.

“You can see in Stuttgart that basically I’m doing fine. We just thought that this is the best decision for me to recover properly because I didn’t really have time to recover after all these tournaments. After each of them I had like two days to chill out and then I had to come back to work and adjust to so many different things in every place.

“So basically, right now I feel like this is the best decision for us to get ready for Rome and have the peak of my form in Roland Garros.”

Swiatek’s win in Stuttgart last weekend was her fourth straight title of the year, following on from her wins in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami, a run that has seen her win 23 consecutive matches and take over as the world No 1 for the first time, following the retirement of Ash Barty.

As a result of Swiatek’s withdrawal, the draw was rejigged.

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