Iga Swiatek has recalled the time in her career when she felt overwhelmed to the point of not getting sleep.
The WTA #1 described her campaign at French Open three years ago as very difficult emotionally while claiming she now has solutions to the problem.
At the Roland Garros in 2021, Swiatek had to compete as a defending Slam titlist for the first time in her career, having won her maiden major in 2020. She was the #18th seed on the Parisian clay and looked favorite to defend her title at the clay-court major after a stellar 2020 campaign during which she dropped only 28 games. However, things took a downturn when she lost in straight sets 4-6, 4-6 to #17th seed Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals after qualifying in the last eight without dropping a set.
During an interview at the 2024 Miami Open, 3-time French Open winner Swiatek talked about her first major title defense at 2021 RG, when quizzed about the moments she has felt overwhelmed.
“At Roland Garros 2021, I arrived as the reigning champion, a Grand Slam tournament where I really did not expect to achieve something so important. It wasn’t easy at all,” the Pole explained.
“I remember I couldn’t even sleep. Now I have solutions to solve this kind of problem. This tournament was very difficult emotionally. I won’t make the same mistakes again.”
After her battling three-set R3 win over Linda Noskova in Miami on Sunday, the four-time Grand Slam singles champion played down talk about completing the Sunshine Double as she did after her Indian Wells victory.
“As you can see, it’s not like we can take everything for granted. You can be in trouble at the early stages of the tournament,” Swiatek siad.
“No sense to talk about Sunshine Double. For sure, I’m taking just experience from this match and I know what I have to focus on little bit more because it wasn’t like I felt 100 per cent comfortable all the time.
“I mean, I thought it’s going to be easier to get used to the new conditions and new balls, but it’s been tricky today. I want to use this experience.
“I’m pretty sure tomorrow I’m going to do that if everything goes well. Usually also these kinds of things just settle in my head on their own. I’m just going to trust that it’s going to be like that again.”
Swiatek, now on the back of an 8-match win streak, will be up against the WTA #16 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final 16 at the WTA 1000 tournament on Monday.