At her core, Iga Swiatek is a tennis purist. Already a winner of six Grand Slam titles across three different surfaces, the Polish world No 2 says she is rarely short of motivation.
While some may chase records and glory in order to stay hungry, Swiatek says she is driven by her love of the game and an ambition to perfect her craft.
“I just love the feeling of knowing where the ball is going to go and having control on the court. So I'm always working hard because I know that this is the way to go,” Swiatek told The National on the sidelines of the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
“The probability of feeling [that control] will be much bigger if I work hard and if I try to listen to my coaches and develop as a player. The results will come after that.
“This always motivates me. I don't need a lot of stuff to motivate me, like a big, big goal, because many things happened in my career that I wasn't really expecting anyway and that weren't really my goals.”
Swiatek picked up her first major title as an unseeded 19-year-old at Roland Garros in 2020. She has since added three more French Open crowns, one US Open, one Wimbledon, and an Olympic bronze medal to her resume, and spent a total of 125 weeks at the top of the rankings before she was unseated by Aryna Sabalenka 12 months ago.
With a hall of fame career secured before turning 25, Swiatek remains level-headed in her approach to tennis. “For me, just feeling day by day that I'm doing good work and the energy that I'm putting in will maybe pay off, maybe not, but usually it does – it's enough of a motivation,” she added.
Swiatek joked during her press conference that she often forgets how young she is – “sometimes I feel like I'm 40 already,” she laughed.
The 24-year-old has had a challenging season – one that presented unique circumstances both on and off the court. After being cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) over the contaminated melatonin she ingested that resulted in a positive antidoping test – she served a one-month suspension at the end of last year because her level of fault was deemed to be at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ – Swiatek felt the emotional toll of the ordeal.
She also started the year with a new coach, Wim Fissette, and was trying to implement some changes to her game that needed time to properly fall into place.
Glory in London
The stars aligned for her when she least expected it, in July on the lawns of the All England Club, where she had the best serving performance of her career en route to capturing the Wimbledon trophy.
“I had some challenges this year that really were kind of new and I needed to adjust to them a little bit more,” said Swiatek. “Also, I think it was the first year when I didn't feel like I'm still young. That was also a different feeling,” she added with a smile.
“Overall, winning Wimbledon made this season already super special and amazing. I would just put it over anything else.”
That triumph ended a 13-month title drought for Swiatek, who silenced her doubters and those who were questioning her partnership with Fissette, by capturing the most-coveted trophy in the sport, which happens to be on her least favourite surface.
“With Wim, I think the start of our relationship was pretty tricky because he joined my team after my three perfect seasons. So there was kind of no space to go up. Actually, winning Wimbledon was the only thing that I wasn't able to do before,” she explained
“But yeah, usually you change coaches because something was going wrong and you have this boost, but this time it was a bit different. So I wanted to win because I knew that he's a super experienced coach, he has such knowledge, and I just felt like his knowledge plus my experience and the way I play should give us something big.
“So the first part of the season, the expectations were a bit too high. I should have just focused on playing and that's it.”
Ruthless in Riyadh
It’s fair to say Swiatek’s focus is back where she needs it to be, her near-flawless 6-1, 6-2 victory over Madison Keys in her WTA Finals opener on Saturday further testament to that.
Swiatek credits Fissette for the progress she has made on faster surfaces – she won hard-court titles in Cincinnati and Seoul after her Wimbledon success – as well as the improvements she has made to her serve.
Keys played Swiatek three times this season, defeating the Pole en route to the Australian Open title before losing to her in Madrid and now Riyadh. Overall, the pair have faced off on eight occasions.
“I think her serve has definitely got better, as far as speed goes. She's also got a little bit better with her placement, especially on her second serve. I can tell that there's been some speed added to it,” said Keys on Saturday following her loss to Swiatek.
“She's taking initiative a little bit quicker. I think sometimes in the past she kind of relied on being able to move really well and make a lot of balls, but it seems like she's doing a really good job of obviously not moving away from that because she's a fantastic mover, but being a little bit more aggressive and being willing to go for things a little bit quicker.”
Swiatek certainly looks like she is playing with purpose and is in a very different position compared to where she was 12 months ago in Riyadh.
Moving on from failed test saga
At last year’s WTA Finals, Swiatek was still waiting for the ITIA’s verdict regarding her case, which made it difficult for her to stay fully focused on her tennis.
News about her failed test had not yet been announced and she felt uncomfortable talking to the press without being able to share what was really happening behind the scenes, but she still managed to win two of her three round-robin matches in Riyadh before exiting the tournament from the group stage.
“Honestly, it wasn't that bad, I've got to say. I was just waiting for the decision of ITIA, and they let me play this tournament because the [provisional] suspension was lifted, but I still didn't know in the future how it's going to be solved,” said Swiatek, reflecting on her time at the WTA Finals last year.
“But at this point, I had a little control over it because I had some proof of the contamination, and it all made a little bit more sense. But I would say the first weeks after I got the message were the toughest, and when I came here, I actually just played without any expectations.
“I didn't play my best game. I also felt that mentally it's hard for me to be focused and everything. But I've got to say, the biggest struggle was talking to media, actually, and not being able to say anything, knowing that everybody's kind of unhappy with me missing the China swing.
“I wanted to prove that I'm fine. I just had some stuff that I can't really speak about, but a lot of different layers, I can't really describe that quickly.”
Swiatek is still one of the top two players in the world, and leads the tour in match-wins this season (62 and counting), but the four grand slams were won by four different players this year and there is a slightly wider group of players who are considered serious contenders at the biggest events.
Does it feel easier being in this position compared to when she was No 1 and expected to win everything? “No, I think it's always more comfortable for an athlete to be dominating, because you just feel that the sky's the limit,” Swiatek replies.
“For sure, sometimes it's hard to be happy about some tournaments, because I remember winning week by week, you also don't have much time to celebrate, you always have to focus on the next one.
“But winning is still something that we want to achieve and feel. So I think this is always nice, and this is something that should also motivate you to keep pushing yourself.
“But every season and every tournament is going to be different, so you also need to have some flexibility in your head to be able to be playing well from different positions and the way you feel in yourself.”
Swiatek realises that being world No 2 is still “super high” and is keeping her sights firmly set on what matters the most – her form and development.
“I try to find that perspective, even though I was number one for a long time, and this is also the goal in the future, but overall, if I feel like I'm developing as a player and I can really keep up with what's going on on the tour and how other girls are playing, I will always find some satisfaction in what I'm doing, no matter what the results are or the rankings,” she assures.
Swiatek will next take on Elena Rybakina in her second round-robin match in Riyadh on Monday, as she continues her quest for a second WTA Finals title.
