{"id":1767612,"date":"2026-02-13T16:20:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1767612"},"modified":"2026-02-13T16:20:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:20:47","slug":"aryna-sabalenka-and-iga-swiatek-withdraw-from-dubai-tennis-championships-as-reasons-revealed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1767612","title":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek withdraw from Dubai Tennis Championships as reasons revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek withdraw from Dubai Tennis Championships as reasons revealed<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/ewan-west\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Ewan West                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"13 Feb 2026 4:20 PM\" data-ps-date=\"13 Feb 2026 4:20 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1770999647\"><br \/>\n                            13 Feb 2026 4:20 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/aryna-sabalenka-iga-swiatek-withdraw-wta-dubai-championships-2026\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a 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href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Faryna-sabalenka-iga-swiatek-withdraw-wta-dubai-championships-2026\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek withdraw from Dubai Tennis Championships as reasons revealed\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Aryna-Sabalenka-and-Iga-Swiatek-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Left to right: Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek (Credit: Wuhan\/CVC and Alamy)                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>The Dubai Championships is the next stop on the WTA Tour, and the prestigious tournament has suffered a double blow as Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have both withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\">WTA<\/a> 1000 event in Dubai will be held from Sunday February 15 to Saturday 21 after the conclusion of the ongoing Qatar Open \u2014 a WTA 1000 in Doha.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/aryna-sabalenka\">Sabalenka<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/iga-swiatek\">Swiatek<\/a> are ranked first and second and would have been the top two seeds in Dubai.<\/p>\n<p>The stars both confirmed their decisions in statements reported by tennis journalist Reem Abulleil, with Sabalenka saying she is \u201cnot feeling 100%\u201d and Swiatek citing a \u201cchange of schedule\u201d as her reason.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabalenka:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m really sorry I have to withdraw from Dubai. I have such a special connection with the tournament, the fans and the city. Unfortunately, I am not feeling 100%. But I hope to be back next year and wish the tournament a great event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Swiatek:<\/strong> \u201cI am sorry to announce that I will not be playing Dubai this year due to a change of schedule. I hope I will come back next year to experience the great tournament. See you guys in Indian Wells.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka also pulled out of the Qatar Open, and she has not played since losing to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final last month.<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Tour News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/wta-rankings-race-to-riyadh-elena-rybakina-victoria-mboko-3rd-iga-swiatek-coco-gauff\"><strong>WTA Rankings Race To Riyadh: Rybakina stretches lead, Mboko 3rd, Swiatek 8th, Gauff 11th<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\/alex-eala-and-belinca-bencic-say-players-deserve-more-privacy-after-viral-coco-gauff-moment\"><strong>WTA stars call for more privacy after \u2018invasive\u2019 Coco Gauff camera incident<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Swiatek, meanwhile, reached the quarter-finals in Doha this week, where she suffered a surprise loss to Maria Sakkari.<\/p>\n<p>Rybakina, the world No 3, will be the top seed in Dubai in the absence of the top two, while fourth-ranked Amanda Anisimova has been bumped up to the No 2 seed position.<\/p>\n<h2>Sabalenka and Swiatek both said they would skip WTA events last month<\/h2>\n<p>Sabalenka and Swiatek have both spoken out about the demands of the tennis schedule and criticised the WTA\u2019s mandatory tournaments rules.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the 2026 Australian Open, Sabalenka outlined her intention to skip events this season to protect her body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe rules are quite tricky with mandatory events, but I\u2019m still skipping a couple of events in order to protect my body, because I struggled a lot last season,\u201d said the Belarusian.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though the results were really consistent, some of the tournaments I had been playing completely sick or I\u2019ve been really exhausted from overplaying. This season, we will try to manage it a little bit better, even though they are going to fine me by the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s tricky to do that. You cannot skip 1000 events. It\u2019s really tricky, and I think that\u2019s insane what they do. I think they just follow their interests, but they\u2019re not focusing on protecting all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After her Australian Open quarter-final exit,\u00a0Swiatek echoed Sabalenka\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019ll skip some 1000 tournaments,\u201d the Pole said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was never in this position, so I don\u2019t know what the result will be, but I think it\u2019s necessary, because if you want to improve your game, unless I want to stay the same and just prepare for every tournament, then I can do that as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll play well, but if I want to improve something, it will be nice to have some time. Unfortunately, calendar doesn\u2019t give that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/alternative-womens-rankings-elena-rybakina-aryna-sabalenka-coco-gauff-iga-swiatek-emma-raducanu\">Elena Rybakina above Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff 8th, Emma Raducanu in top 20 \u2013 alternative rankings<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek withdraw from Dubai Tennis Championships as reasons revealed Ewan West 13 Feb 2026 4:20 PM Left to right: Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek (Credit: Wuhan\/CVC and Alamy) The Dubai Championships is the next stop on the WTA Tour, and the prestigious tournament has suffered a double blow as Aryna Sabalenka [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1767612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1767612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1767612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1767612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1767612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}