"Now I see why you are so p****": Daria Kasatkina defends Iga Swiatek over Yevgeny Kafelnikov's criticism of tennis schedule

Russia’s tennis star Daria Kasatkina has come to defence of Poland’s Iga Swiatek after she heavily criticised by former world number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov for highlighting tough tennis schedule. The 23-year-old, who is already regarded as the best player in women’s tennis in the singles category, was heavily critical of the tennis schedule.

She made that statement during the Cincinnati Open while talking to Sky Sports. "So what can I say I've been kind of an advocate, saying that well, we shouldn't be pushing and pushing for us to play more,” she said. “Obviously, it's not our decision, but for sure, I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It's not gonna end well as it's just it makes tennis less fun for us. Let's just say, I mean, obviously, I love playing all these places but it's pretty exhausting.”

Kafelnikov, in a post on social media platform X—previously known as Twitter—was highly critical of Swiatek and stated that, in his opinion, Swiatek is earning much more than she should have. "Is someone pushing you to play ??? All you fricking do is complain!! I’ll tell you what you deserve ! You deserve to get paid a lot less than you do now!! How about that??,” he wrote.

Kasatkina, in a post on X, came to the defence of Swiatek and highlighted that the former world number one might be unhappy with Swiatek because she has already earned more than Kafelnikov has earned throughout his career. "Now I see why you are so pissed," she wrote. She shared a screenshot where it was claimed that Swiatek has already earned $31 million, whereas Kafelnikov earned $23 million in his entire career. The journey of the Warsaw-born star in the Cincinnati Open came to an end in the semifinals as she lost to the current world number three Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3.