World No. 1 Iga Swiatek out of Billie Jean King Cup, says scheduling is 'not safe'

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will not play in the Billie Jean King Cup and complained Monday about that event being scheduled to start immediately after the WTA Finals.

The WTA Finals — which close out the women's tennis tour's season and are for the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams — are in Fort Worth, Texas, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7. The Billie Jean King Cup — a team competition run by the International Tennis Federation — will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from Nov. 8-13.

Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland, is establishing herself as a dominant force in women's tennis. She is a three-time Grand Slam champion, including the French Open in June and the U.S. Open in September. Those triumphs made her the first woman since 2016 to win two major titles in a single season.

Heading into a tournament she entered this week in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Swiatek is 57-7 with seven titles in 2022. She put together a 37-match winning streak from February to July that was the longest on the WTA in a quarter-century and helped her earn six consecutive trophies.

Swiatek said she arrived at the decision to sit out the Billie Jean King Cup after "thinking it through a lot and discussing it with my team all over again."

The other 11 countries competing there are Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United States.

As of now, other singles players in position to compete at the WTA Finals whose countries are going to be in the Billie Jean King Cup include No. 4 Paula Badosa of Spain, No. 6 Jessica Pegula of the U.S. and No. 8 Coco Gauff of the U.S.

WATCH | Swiatek defeats Jabeur in U.S. Open women's final:

Swiatek wrote that her withdrawal "makes me sad" and