TENNIS: Thigh injury ends Swiatek’s season and WTA Finals hopes

Iga Swiatek ended her season on Tuesday after withdrawing from the Ningbo Open with a thigh injury, a decision that also ended the six-time Grand Slam champion's hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals.

The 25-year-old Pole, who described the campaign as the most demanding of her career, finished the year without a Grand Slam title. Her last major triumph came at last year's Wimbledon.

Swiatek, who has played at every edition of the WTA Finals since 2021 and won the season-ending championships in 2023, needed to reach at least the quarter-finals in Ningbo to have any chance of displacing Czech Karolina Muchova from the last qualifying spot.

"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."

The injury also troubled Swiatek during her 7-5 6-1 semi-final defeat by compatriot Maja Chwalinska at last week's Wuhan Open.

Swiatek finishes the season with a 39-15 record and one title, at the Canadian Open. She also failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals at any of the four Grand Slams.

"This has been one of the most demanding seasons of my career, with a lot of challenges, changes and lessons along the way," Swiatek said 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.

"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..."

The former world number one, who has slipped to ninth in the rankings, served a short suspension in late 2024 after an inadvertent doping violation linked to contaminated melatonin, a sleep medication.

-Reporting by Aadi Nair and Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Toby Davis/Reuters