Iga Swiatek (L) and Jannik Sinner
Iga Swiatek will excel in serving if she takes inspiration from Jannik Sinner, believes former World No. 9 Andrea Petkovic.
Iga Swiatek recently bowed out of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a loss to Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya in the semifinals. Kalinskaya broke Swiatek four times as the latter’s second-serve conversion rate stood at 39 percent after the match.
Iga Swiatek has notably held the World No. 1 position on the women’s circuit for 92 weeks out of the last 100. She first reached the top on April 4, 2022, and has stayed there since then, except for the eight weeks between September 11 and November 5, 2023, when Sabalenka took over.
Andrea Petkovic, in a recent episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, claimed that Sabalenka has forced Swiatek to fix loopholes in her game.
“For, Iga being No. 1 in the world for a while now but exchanging that place with Aryna Sabalenka, it’s really great to see and fascinating to watch because she knows she feels the other players breathing down her neck, especially Aryna Sabalenka, so she knows she has to keep evolving and developing her game,” Petkovic said [at 17:46].
Petkovic noted that contrary to Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina as well, the 22-year-old lacks power in her serves.
“The one thing that she doesn’t have compared to Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina is that big serve that can get her a lot of free points,” Petkovic added.
The former players reckoned Swiatek would benefit if she followed in Sinner’s suit to improve her serve.
“Jannik Sinner did the same thing. They [Sinner’s team] were trying the thing where he doesn’t move his right leg up. Then they went back to that and all of a sudden it clicked together and now he seems to be unbeatable,” Petkovic claimed.
“Jannik Sinner’s been the player to beat, hopefully, the same thing will happen for Iga Swiatek too” – Andrea Petkovic
In the same episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, Andrea Petkovic lauded Jannik Sinner for his on-court consistency in the past few months, while wishing Iga Swiatek enjoys the same success.
“For the past few months, he [Jannik Sinner] has been the player on the ATP Tour to beat. Hopefully, the same thing will happen for Iga too,” Petkovic said.
Sinner hasn’t yet lost a match in the 2024 season. He began the year with a triumph at the Australian Open and added another title to his tally by winning the Rotterdam Open.
On the other hand, Iga Swiatek has faced a third-round exit from the Melbourne Major, won the Qatar Open, and ended as a semifinalist in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
