Iga Swiatek will not defend her Miami Open title after suffering continued “pain and discomfort” from the rib injury she suffered in Indian Wells.
Swiatek said in a statement on social media that the problem was caused by a bout of heavy coughing she suffered after picking up an infection during her title run in Doha last month. The world No 1 will also miss Poland’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan next month in Astana, where she was due to face Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion, who defeated her last week in Indian Wells.
“I wanted to wait till the last minute,” said Swiatek after pulling out of her opener against Claire Liu. “We were checking if this is the kind of injury you can still play with, or this is the kind when you can get things worse.
“I think the smart move for me is to pull out of this tournament, because I want to rest and take care of it properly.”
Swiatek declined to elaborate on the specific nature of the injury, but said it started to cause her discomfort in the latter stages of her quarter-final win over Sorana Cirstea in Indian Wells. The Pole, who was far from her best in her subsequent loss to Rybakina, said she did not expect to be side-lined for long, adding that the pain only affected “certain movements”, most notably the serve.
“It’s not like it happened in one minute or one second,” said Swiatek, whose place in the draw will be taken by Austria’s Julia Grabher, a lucky loser. “It’s not a serious thing, because we caught it pretty early. I felt like [managing] it was a process.
“At first with these minor things, your body doesn’t feel anything. I started to feel it in the last games against Sorana.
“The break is not going to be long if everything goes well. I’m not concerned.
“It’s not a big pain, honestly. It’s just that I know I can make it worse if I play.”
With Swiatek unable to defend the 1,000 points she earned for her victory over Naomi Osaka in last year’s final, her rivals will have an opportunity to make up ground at the top of the rankings. The French and US Open champion, who has 9,975 points, currently holds a 3,235-point advantage over second-placed Aryna Sabalenka. But defending the mountain of points she accumulated from last year’s 37-match winning streak was always likely to be a challenge for Swiatek. Were Sabalenka to win her third title of the season in Miami, the gap would narrow to a less daunting 1,235 points. Jessica Pegula, ranked third on 5,605 points, will also be eager to consolidate her position at the game’s top table.
“Of course, I’m going to lose points from this tournament, but it doesn’t change anything in terms of my approach and my mentality,” said Swiatek.
“I was also aware at the beginning of the season that it’s going to be hard for me to defend all these points, because these streaks, winning all these tournaments – looking logically and statistically, it’s not like it’s going to happen every year. I’m doing my best job to play as best as possible.
“For sure, this tournament is not going to help. But on the other hand, as I said, injuries happen.
“I feel like I’m only right now missing one tournament. What’s going to happen next, we’ll see. Obviously, it’s going to depend on the recovery, but for now it’s not a horrible scenario. It happens.”
Sabalenka, meanwhile, has spoken of facing “hate” in the locker room over the role of her native Belarus in the Ukraine war. Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president and a close ally of the Putin regime, has supported Russia since the conflict began, allowing last year’s assault on northern Ukraine to be launched from Belarusian territory as well as providing equipment and facilities.
“It was really tough for me, because I’ve never faced that much hate in the locker room,” said Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, who will open her campaign in Miami against Shelby Rogers of the US.
“’There are a lot of haters on Instagram when you’re losing matches, but in the locker room I’ve never faced that.
“It was really tough to understand that there’s so many people who hate me for no reason. I did nothing.
“I had some, not like fights, but I had some weird conversations with, not the girls, but with members of their team. It was tough. It was [a] tough period.
“But, now it’s getting better.”