Iga Swiatek seemingly took a shot at the Madrid Open organizers after losing the final at Caja Magica to Aryna Sabalenka. Swiatek, who was the top-seeded player in Madrid, fell just short of winning her first title at Caja Magica after Aryna Sabalenka handed her a 6-3 3-6 6-3 defeat.
In the Madrid semifinal, Swiatek concluded her win against Veronika Kudermetova at around 1 am local time. Swiatek seemingly wasn’t happy that she was put in a position where she could finish a match late. “It’s not fun to play at 1 am though but I’m happy anyway that I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final.
This hour is tricky only because what’s going on after, you know, going to sleep really late and then waking up the next day. But before the match and during, I don’t think it matters. We just have to kind of adjust tactics,” Swiatek said.
Swiatek not taking anything away from Sabalenka
Even though Swiatek wasn’t happy with the scheduling in Madrid, she noted that Sabalenka delivered great tennis in the final. “We just played on a good level, but [Sabalenka] was better today.
Maybe sometimes I could be more proactive, but honestly, I think we both played good. I don’t have any big regrets. Sometimes it’s tougher, sometimes it’s easier. That’s why we have variety in tennis, and that’s why sometimes players are playing better on some surfaces and some on different [surfaces].
But it doesn’t really matter because she won, and I just respect that and I don’t want to take it from Aryna,” Swiatek added. Two weeks earlier, Swiatek defeated Sabalenka in the Stuttgart final. After her first two clay tournaments, Swiatek has nine wins and one loss. Swiatek will now try to defend her title at the Italian Open in Rome.
