Madison Keys suggests "the downtime" between tournaments can be incredibly mentally draining and that may have played led to Daria Kasatkina and Elina Svitolina openly admitting they needed time away from tennis to mentally recharge.
On September 23rd, Svitolina announced that she was ending her 2025 season because she was "not in right emotional space" to compete. It came after the 2023 Wimbledon semifinalist went only 1-4 in her last five matches played.
"I havent been feeling like myself lately. Im not in the right emotional space, and I dont feel ready to play, so I am therefore ending the season here," Svitolina said.
On October 6th, Kasatkina put the curtain on her 2025 season by issuing a deeply honest statement.
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"Truth is, Ive hit a wall and I cant continue. I need a break... The schedule is too much, mentally and emotionally I am at breaking point and sadly, I am not alone," Kasatkina said.
Keys feels for Kasatkina, Svitolina
Recently, Keys launched a tennis podcast alongside Jessica Pegula, Jennifer Brady and Desirae Krawczyk. Addressing the recent happenings in women's tennis, the reigning Australian Open champion explained the mental challenge that the schedule poses with its current construction.
"You're at tournaments, there's more downtime in between tournaments there, and I think there's more stress of, okay, if I lose early, what am I going to do for the next 10 days? Because I have a really long time and it's not enough time to go home, but it's like maybe enough time to go somewhere else and train, but not really," Keys said on The Player's Box.
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While some top players have been openly speaking out against the calendar for years now, they also say they cannot allow themselves to skip tournaments because they would face sanctions.
In Kasatkina and Svitolina's cases, the two stars evidently reached a point where they just couldn't continue competing.
