- Iga Swiatek stole the show in 2022 winning two Grand Slams in a row
- Come 2023, she found herself diving in insurmountable pressure to win more Grand Slams
- She won the 2023 French Open
Iga Swiatek stole the show in 2022 winning two Grand Slams in a row and several Masters 1000 events.
Come 2023, she found herself diving into insurmountable pressure to win more Grand Slams. She managed to defend her French Open title.
However, Swiatek admits that there was pressure at the beginning of the year as fans globally expected her to continue her winning streak.
With time, she realized that these expectations could likely push her to a dangerous place mentally and affect her game. She overcame it and she no longer feels under pressure to win a major tournament at this point.
The four-time Grand Slam champion says that she has many years to play tennis at a professional level and win as much as she can.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek defeated Laura Siegemund in just 68 minutes to win the Poland Open title. Photo/ Tennis World USA.
“I’m 22, so I still have a lot of time probably, more than like 10 years. So I’m doing my best to win every tournament I play at. But yeah, I’m not rushing it because I’ve already won four Slams,” Tennis 365 cites.
The three-time French Open champion adds that her focus is playing better on the grass courts of London but she is aware that she needs a few more years to do this.
“I think I need a couple of more years to play on grass… so, I’m not rushing,” she states.
Tennis pundits pointed out that her US Open loss had a lot to do with her style of play and confidence.
The Pole’s journey to defend her 2022 US Open victory was cut short at the Round of 16 when playing against Jelena Ostapenko. The latter proved to be a hard nut to crack and she eventually won 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Prior to Sunday’s fourth-round match at the US Open, Ostapenko had won their previous three meetings with Swiatek.
Tennis legend John McEnroe told Eurosport that “She [Swiatek] needs to improve her game at the net, moving forward. I don’t think she’s that confident at net.”
Iga Swiatek. Photo by Forbes
A perfect game at the net means that you constantly employ forehand volleys and backhand volleys. Volleys are ideally the tennis shots you make while at the Net. So, Swiatek should practice hitting them from different angles and with different levels of power. Additionally, she should do proper timing in order to get perfect volleys and with the amount of force necessary. Essentially, she should be aggressive, fast, and calculating whenever she is on the net.
He also also stated that Swiatek needed to up her game in power serves which is one of the reasons she lost in the round of 16 to Ostapenko.
A powerful serve is important in tennis because it gives you a significant advantage over your opponent. A good serve helps you win points outright. It also puts your opponent on the defensive thereby making it difficult for them to return the ball.
Still, Swiatek is among the new era’s formidable competitors with the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur.
Former tennis star Ash Barty said these players always make her proud because of their high-level tennis skills.
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