Daria Kasatkina has defended Iga Swiatek after she was lambasted by her Russian compatriot and former tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov

During the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek claimed there are too many tournaments in the tennis season and warned “it’s not going to end well” for players.

“What can I say? I’ve been kind of an advocate in saying that we shouldn’t, I don’t know… be pushing and pushing for us to play more,” the world No 1 told Sky Sports after her quarter-final win against Mirra Andreeva.

“Obviously it is not our decision, but for sure I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It’s not going to end well.

“It makes tennis less fun for us. Obviously, I love playing in all these places, but it’s pretty exhausting. Most of the players will tell you that. Especially when you are playing at the higher level and going to the end of tournaments.

“I don’t think it should be like that because we deserve to rest a little bit more. Maybe people are going to hate me for saying that.”