King simply figures she would have made a special selection.

“I can totally understand her reasoning. I personally wouldn’t agree with it. But you know what? It’s about her. She’s the one that’s having to deal with reality now; I don’t,” King, the proprietor of 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a two-time inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, stated Tuesday throughout a video convention.

“We’ll miss her.”

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, holds up the championship trophy after defeating Ons Jabeur, of Tunisia, to win the ladies’s singles closing of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland with three main trophies, introduced final month she would play within the WTA Finals taking place now in Fort Worth, Texas, and skip the International Tennis Federation’s 12-nation group competitors named in honor of King that might be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from Nov. 8-13.

Complaining that the “situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury,” she stated she was disenchanted the game’s governing our bodies “didn’t come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments.” WTA CEO Steve Simon acknowledged Tuesday that Swiatek is “not wrong.” “This is a very tough schedule and a tough turnaround,” Simon stated.

“It’s something that we’re already talking about to see how we can fix that in the future.” Swiatek leads ladies’s tennis with eight titles and a 64-8 report in 2022. She performed her opening round-robin match Tuesday on the WTA Finals.

“I would have liked her to wait a little longer (to decide about the BJK Cup Finals), because you never know how you’re going to do. I mean, you just don’t know. And this is where you have to figure out for yourself what’s important to you,” King stated. “For me, this would be a no-brainer.” The WTA Finals had been speculated to be held in Shenzhen, China, however had been moved as a part of the suspension of all tournaments in that nation due to considerations in regards to the security of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former Chinese authorities official of sexual assault, and COVID-19 restrictions there.

The choice of Fort Worth in its place web site for simply this 12 months was introduced in September. Simon stated he would have most well-liked that the WTA Finals finish on an earlier date, however the Texas area had a live performance scheduled final week that prevented entry to the venue earlier than Friday for setup that included set up of a brief courtroom.

Two members of the U.S. roster for the BJK Cup are on the WTA Finals, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff.

“We definitely knew (it) was a tough turnaround. But I think for me, it’s more of just a good problem to have. Of course, it’s not ideal,” Pegula stated.

“Everyone makes their own kind of personal decision as far as (what is) physically healthy, mentally-wise what they need to do, but hopefully, it’s just for this year.” The different 10 nations within the BJK Cup Finals are Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Spain, Slovakia and Switzerland.