Iga Swiatek implies that relinquishing the world No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka also brought her a sense of relief, as it allowed her to shed what she describes as “certain burdens.” Swiatek, who first achieved the world No. 1 ranking on April 4th, 2022, remained in that position for 75 uninterrupted weeks until Sabalenka took over after the US Open.
Now that Swiatek is chasing someone again, she admits that mentally it’s an easier position to be in. After competing in Tokyo this week, Swiatek is now set to play at the China Open in Beijing. “I felt like there was some baggage off my shoulders and I could focus more on getting back to the more peaceful and normal rhythm of practicing.
It’s a little bit easier to come back to the mindset of chasing somebody because that’s what we’ve been doing our whole lives. My main goal in China is to try and do some stuff differently on court in terms of technique and tactics to develop as a player and not chase rankings,” Swiatek said, via The Tennis Letter.
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Iga Swiatek will be looking to do better in Beijing
This week, Swiatek kicked off her Asian swing in Tokyo, where she was the top seed.
After winning her opener at the tournament, Swiatek suffered a shock loss in the Tokyo quarterfinal as Veronika Kudermetova beat the Pole 6-2 2-6 6-4. After the match, Kudermetova was asked if she deployed any special tactic in her win over Swiatek.
“No. I tried to just believe that I can beat her. Today it happened. I’m really happy that I managed to switch [the head-to-head] and win one match,” Kudermetova said after the match. In Beijing, Swiatek plays against Sara Sorribes Tormo in the first round.
