By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Billie Jean King understands Iga Swiatek opting out of next week's Billie Jean King Cup, but believes it's a "no-brainer" for stars to play for their countries.

World No. 1 Swiatek is playing for the WTA Finals championship in Forth Worth, Texas this week. The WTA Finals end on November 7th in Texas. The season-ending Billie Jean King Cup is set for November 8-13th in Glasgow, Scotland.

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The cramped scheduling obviously affords Swiatek little turnaround time to prepare playing in a different time zone and different conditions, which makes her decision to skip Glasgow completely understandable, King told Reuters. The tennis legend also suggested today's generation of players aren't always willing to make scheduling sacrifices to grow the game.

"In our day we were tired all the time playing two things half the time," King said. "I think it's such a privilege to play for your country but I also understand her point of view.

"She's number one. She's played the most matches probably. She's tired already, probably. I was hoping she would just kind of wait see how it's going. But I can totally understand her reasoning."



Still, given Swiatek's status as dominant world No. 1, holder of two of the four Grand Slams and national hero in Poland, King says it's "a no brainer" to represent your country.

The Grand Slam champion also said she wished Swiatek had delayed her decision to see how she felt after Forth Worth.

"Personally, I think I would have liked Iga to have waited a little longer (to make the decision) because you never know how you're going to do," King told Reuters. "I guess you have to figure out yourself what's important to you, but for me this would be a no brainer."

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