Iga Swiatek has ended her season after pulling out of the Ningbo Open with a thigh injury, a decision that also ends the six-time Grand Slam champion’s hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals, Dawn reported, citing Reuters.
The 25-year-old Pole, who called this year the most demanding of her career, finishes the season without a Grand Slam title. Her last major win came at Wimbledon last year.
The race she had to win
Swiatek has played at every edition of the WTA Finals since 2021 and won the season-ending championships in 2023. To keep any chance of a place this year, she needed to reach at least the quarter-finals in Ningbo and overtake Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic for the last qualifying spot.
Her withdrawal means the WTA Finals will go ahead without her for the first time since 2020.
“After careful consideration, I’ve decided to withdraw from the tournament,” Swiatek said in a statement posted on the Ningbo Open’s social media.
“I’ve been experiencing an ongoing problem with my left thigh over the past weeks, and I feel that giving myself the time to rest and recover is the right decision.”
An injury that had been building
The problem was not new. The thigh injury also troubled her during last week’s Wuhan Open, where she lost 7-5, 6-1 in the semi-finals to fellow Pole Maja Chwalinska.
Her season in numbers
- Record: 39 wins, 15 defeats.
- Titles: one, at the Canadian Open.
- Grand Slams: she did not get past the quarter-finals at any of the four majors.
- Ranking: the former world number one has slipped to ninth.
“A bit longer this time”
Despite the injury and the missed target, Swiatek said she was proud of the progress she made in the second half of the year.
“This has been one of the most demanding seasons of my career, with a lot of challenges, changes and lessons along the way,” she wrote on social media.
“I’m especially proud of the work we’ve done in the second half of the year and the progress that came with it. It gives me a lot of confidence in what’s ahead.”
She said she needed a longer break than usual. “The past few months, or actually the past couple of years, have been incredibly intense, and I feel I need to rest and recover my body fully. So that’s exactly what I will do, a bit longer this time. I’ve decided to end my season here, which means I won’t be playing any more tournaments this year.”
“As always, I’ll come back with passion and motivation to keep improving,” she added.
A difficult two years
Swiatek served a short suspension in late 2024 after an inadvertent doping violation linked to contaminated melatonin, a sleep medication. She returned to win Wimbledon in 2025, but this year she did not reach a Grand Slam semi-final.
Her withdrawal leaves Muchova holding the last qualifying place for the WTA Finals.
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