Tennis-Thigh injury ends Swiatek's season and WTA Finals bid

Tennis - WTA 1000 - Wuhan Open - Optics Valley International Tennis Center, Wuhan, China - October 17, 2026 Poland's Iga Swiatek leaves the court after losing her semi final match against Poland's Maja Chwalinska REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

Oct 20 (Reuters) - 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)

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网球 - WTA 1000 - 武汉公开赛 - 中国武汉光谷国际网球中心 - 2026年10月17日 - 波兰选手伊加·斯瓦泰克在半决赛负于波兰选手玛雅·赫瓦林斯卡后离开球场。（路透社/马克西姆·舍梅托夫摄）

10 月 20 日（路透社）——伊加·斯瓦泰克周二因大腿受伤退出宁波公开赛，结束了她的赛季。这一决定也终结了这位六届大满贯冠军获得 WTA 年终总决赛参赛资格的希望。

这位25岁的波兰选手称本赛季是她职业生涯中最艰难的赛季，最终未能赢得任何大满贯冠军。她上一次获得大满贯冠军是在去年的温布尔登网球公开赛上。

斯瓦泰克自 2021 年以来参加了每一届 WTA 年终总决赛，并在 2023 年赢得了这项赛季末的锦标赛冠军。她需要在宁波至少打进四分之一决赛，才有机会将捷克选手卡罗琳娜·穆霍娃从最后一个资格赛席位上挤走。

“经过慎重考虑，我决定退出本次比赛，”斯瓦泰克在宁波公开赛的社交媒体上发表声明说。

“过去几周我的左大腿一直有问题，我觉得给自己时间休息和恢复是正确的决定。”

上周的武汉公开赛上，斯瓦泰克在半决赛中以 7-5、6-1 负于同胞玛雅·赫瓦林斯卡，伤病也困扰着她。

斯瓦泰克本赛季战绩为39胜15负，获得加拿大公开赛冠军。她在四大满贯赛事中均未能晋级八强。

“这绝对是我职业生涯中最具挑战性的赛季之一，一路走来充满了挑战、变化和教训，”斯瓦泰克在社交媒体上说道。

“我尤其为我们在下半年所做的工作以及由此取得的进展感到自豪。这让我对未来充满信心。”

“过去几个月，或者说过去几年，都非常紧张，我觉得我需要好好休息，让身体彻底恢复。所以我会这么做，这次休息时间会更长一些。我已经决定在这里结束我的赛季，这意味着我今年不会再参加任何比赛了……”

“我会一如既往地带着热情和动力回归，不断进步……”

这位前世界排名第一的选手，目前排名已下滑至第九位。2024 年底，他因意外服用受污染的褪黑激素（一种助眠药物）而被禁赛一段时间。

（班加罗尔 Aadi Nair 和 Pearl Josephine Nazare 报道；Peter Rutherford 和 Toby Davis 编辑）

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