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<\/p>\nTennis legend Martina Navratilova has told world no.1 Iga Swiatek to "suck it up" after the Polish star complained of tiredness ahead of next week's US Open.<\/p>\n
Defending champion Swiatek goes into the tournament at Flushing Meadows as no.1 seed and gets her tilt for another title under way on Monday against unseeded Swede Rebecca Peterson. She comes into the US Open off the back of a semi-final defeat in the Cincinnati Open, losing to Coco Gauff, whom she had beaten in straight sets in all seven of their previous encounters.<\/p>\n
Swiatek was far from downbeat, though, admitting after the match: "I would say my tank of fuel is pretty empty. Honestly, I\u2019m not even going to kind of regret a lot because I\u2019m happy that I\u2019m going to have days off now." But Navratilova has dismissed Swiatek's complaints over fatigue and called on the 22-year-old to "get on with it" ahead of her clash with Peterson.<\/p>\n
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"I would be tired after the US Open but not before the US Open," Navratilova said. "The only time I remember being tired before the US Open was in 1976, when we played World Team Tennis: we played non-stop tennis from April, we had a three-week break for Wimbledon, and then we played non-stop until two weeks before the US Open.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe stress on the players, I understand that \u2013 and Iga being Polish she had to play Warsaw. Normally, if she wasn\u2019t Polish, she would have never played [that event] and would have taken an extra couple of weeks of rest so maybe that\u2019s why she\u2019s tired.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I still have to say, \u2018Come on, just suck it up\u2019. It\u2019s September, you didn\u2019t play that many tournaments and this is the US Open. So if you can\u2019t get up for that\u2026 if you\u2019re that mentally tired, don\u2019t play."<\/p>\n
Swiatek has had a fairly hectic schedule these last few months, also competing at the Poland Open in Warsaw and Canadian Open at Montreal since her shock exit at Wimbledon at the beginning of July. Navratilova suggested Swiatek should consider "forcing herself to take a vacation", though was adamant she had never given herself "permission" to do that in her own glittering career.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr just get on with it and say, \u2018Okay, I\u2019m fine. It\u2019s just two weeks, it\u2019s seven matches, I literally have to work hard [for] maybe 20 hours, these next two weeks,'" the 18-time singles Grand Slam winner continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just suck it up and say, \u2018Okay, get on with it\u2019 and put it in perspective to what normal people do for a living. Yeah, you\u2019re in the spotlight but you know, nice problem, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what you want all your life and here you are. So you just gotta toughen up on that front. I don\u2019t have that much sympathy for that when I think about what we went through. Get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n