Iga Swiatek lost ‘massive battle’ with Australian Open organisers prior her fourth round

So far, all three of Iga Swiatek’s matches at this year’s Australian Open have been scheduled for the night session in Melbourne.

However, according to former world number one and two-time champion Jim Courier, she had requested to play her next match against Inglis during the day session but didn’t get her way.

With Inglis being the last local player left in the women’s draw, it made sense for broadcasters to want her on in primetime. They ended up getting their wish.

Speaking on Tennis Channel, Courier explained: “Scheduling is always a hot topic and yesterday’s scheduling meeting went exceptionally long, it was a massive battle, because Swiatek wanted a day match and the Australian network which I work for down here desperately wanted to have an Australian playing in prime time, that’s what they pay the big money for!

“And it was a long drawn out battle and I can tell you is that it went to the wire! And eventually Channel 9 got what they wanted, what the tournament also wants and Iga didn’t get what she wanted.

“But those are the backroom happenings here at tournaments like this. Why she wanted to play in the day, I don’t know, because going forward from here it’s going to be mostly night matches. Certainly once you get to the semifinals and finals they’re all night matches for the women’s, but there’s lots of little skirmishes underneath the tunnels.”

Iga Swiatek overcomes scheduling dispute to defeat Maddison Inglis at Australian Open

Even though the scheduling did not go her way, Swiatek put it behind her and booked a spot in the Australian Open quarterfinals for the third time in her career.

After her third-round match, Swiatek spoke about how crowds can sometimes impact her. Despite that, she managed to stay focused against a heavily pro-Australian crowd and beat Inglis 6-0 6-3.

Next up for Swiatek is world number five Elena Rybakina, a former finalist in Melbourne.

This will be their 12th meeting, with Swiatek holding a narrow 6-5 lead in their head-to-head record.

Their only prior encounter at the Australian Open resulted in a straight-sets victory for Rybakina, which contributed to her reaching the 2023 final.