Carolina Marin has secured her spot in the quarterfinals with a comfortable 21-9 21-16 victory over her Chinese counterpart, Gao Fang Jie. However, she is feeling the strain of the packed tour calendar and the burden of numerous tournaments.
“It’s getting tough, the calendar is already full for the whole year. I think it’s crazy. Maybe the BWF should think about the players because we should care about our health. It’s tough to get a good performance at the World Championships and then just one week after having to play the China Open, a Masters 1000. And of course, you still have to give your best, but maybe the performance is not as good as all the players would like to show on court. I want to give some advice to BWF: please, think more about players. We need to care more about our health, we don’t want to get injuries.” (Interview by BWF)
Marin pointed out that the lack of action taken from BWF could lead to more drastic consequences such as early retirement for overpushed players or players being more selective in their tour appearances. Unfortunately, taking a break from big tournaments is not on the cards for many players at this moment, seeing that they are looking to collect the most points in hopes of reaching Paris 2024 next summer.
Looking at the positive side and in anticipation of her match tomorrow, Marin stated that she is prepared. Despite her return from a long-term injury, her game is steadily improving day by day. “The performance for me right now is much better than a few tournaments ago. I want to keep going, I want to recover from today, and do my best tomorrow.”
In the other women's singles match featuring Europeans, a fierce first-half battle between Yvonne Li and Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt resulted in a 19-19 tie in the first game. The Danish player managed to secure the first game and then asserted her dominance, defeating the German opponent 21-19 21-10.