The six-time Grand Slam champion will skip the rest of the year to rest, ending a season in which she won just one title and missed the WTA Finals.
Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek has ended her 2026 season early, saying she needs a longer break to let her body and mind recover before she returns to competition in 2027.
The decision followed her withdrawal from the Ningbo Open on Tuesday with a thigh problem, a pull-out that also ended her hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals. The WTA, or Women's Tennis Association, is the body that runs the women's professional tour, and its season-ending Finals bring together the year's top performers. It is the first time since 2019 that Swiatek has missed out.
A season without a major
Swiatek, who is 25, is a six-time Grand Slam champion. The Ghana Report reports that she closes 2026 with a 42-16 win-loss record and a single title, the Canadian Open in Toronto in August.
It is the first season since 2021 that she has finished without a Grand Slam trophy. Her last major title came at Wimbledon last year. Once a long-serving world number one, she has now slipped to ninth in the rankings.
"The past few months, or actually the past couple of years, have been incredibly intense," Swiatek said, adding that she intends to rest and allow her body to recover fully, this time for a longer stretch than usual.
The injury that forced the call
The leg trouble is not new. Swiatek said it had been bothering her for several weeks. She needed treatment on her left leg during her Wuhan Open semi-final on Saturday, which she lost to fellow Pole Maja Chwalinska, a childhood friend. She was visibly emotional during that match.
Even so, she struck an optimistic note about the second half of the year. "It gives me a lot of confidence in what's ahead," she said of the progress she believes she and her team have made.
A year of change behind the scenes
2026 also brought upheaval in her coaching set-up. In March she parted ways with Belgian coach Wim Fissette and later hired Spaniard Francisco Roig, who previously worked with Rafael Nadal and Emma Raducanu.
Her clearest high point was the Toronto title, where she beat Elena Rybakina, now the world number one, in a win that drew an unusually emotional reaction from her. But the on-court stress and anxiety she has spoken about publicly, and the unforced errors that come with it, did not disappear.
What comes next
Swiatek is expected back on tour in 2027. Her first big target will be the Australian Open in January, where a title would complete the career Grand Slam, meaning victory at all four of the sport's major championships.
