Iga Swiatek Wishes to Be More Like ‘Big Inspiration’ Carlos Alcaraz and Enjoy Tennis: “I Forget About That”

Iga Swiatek lifted her first title of the season at Wimbledon, where Carlos Alcaraz failed to defend his title.

Iga Swiatek Wishes to Be More Like ‘Big Inspiration’ Carlos Alcaraz and Enjoy Tennis: “I Forget About That”

Iga Swiatek, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/Carlos Alcaraz Brasil)

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One of Carlos Alcaraz‘s goals is to always find joy while playing tennis. But when Iga Swiatek plays, her mind “automatically goes working, working, working“. And she wants to change this.

Swiatek is in Montreal for the first WTA 1000 of the North American hard-court swing- the Canadian Open. She will kick-start her campaign against Yulia Putintseva or Guo Hanyu.

The former World No.1 has faced the former five times, winning four of those matches, but she has never played the Chinese ace. In the pre-tournament press conference, Swiatek talked about finding joy on tennis courts and said she sometimes forgets about playing tennis only for herself.

I wish I was more like Carlos because I have got to say he is a big inspiration in terms of that. He always says that the most important thing for him on a tennis court is to enjoy it and have fun and I sometimes forget about that and sometimes with all the pressure around and things we need to do off the court, you need to remind yourself about this kid that started playing tennis instead of winning for somebody and having this baggage on your shoulders.

The Canadian Open is Swiatek’s first tournament since her Wimbledon triumph. She lifted the title without breaking a sweat against America’s Amanda Anisimova, handing her two bagels to become the first woman after Steffi Graf to win a Grand Slam final with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline.

For sure, when Carlos shows that and when he speaks about that, it is always a good reminder for me, and I try to do that as well, but without me working on it.

Iga Swiatek added

Alcaraz was scheduled to play the Canadian Open, but he has decided to withdraw from it. He had also skipped the tournament last year.

Iga Swiatek won, but Carlos Alcaraz lost at Wimbledon

Iga Swiatek lifted this season’s first title at Wimbledon. Before the Major at SW19, she had played her career’s first grass-court final at the Bad Homburg Open but was not successful in defeating Jessica Pegula.

Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (3)
Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X/Jannik Sinner HQ)

But Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed a lot of success this season. After his Australian Open exit (lost to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals), the Spaniard lifted the Rotterdam Open- his first win in an indoor hard-court event.

He failed to reach a final in the next three tournaments he had played, and critics started to call him inconsistent. But Alcaraz gave them no chance to criticize him again because in the next six tournaments, he progressed to the championship matches, losing only twice.

The five-time Grand Slam champion captured the Monte Carlo Masters but lost the Barcelona Open. He was forced to skip the Madrid Open because of an injury, but upon making his comeback, he beat home favorite Jannik Sinner in the Italian Open final.

Next destination was Paris, and what happened in the final, for sure, the tennis community will not forget easily. In the first-ever Grand Slam final between Alcaraz and Sinner, the former lost the first two sets and was on the verge of defeat. But he saved three championship points in the fourth set and eventually ended the match in his favor, defending his crown in five hours and 29 minutes, which has become the longest French Open final.

After a short break, Alcaraz clinched the Queen’s Club Championships and came close to defending his Wimbledon crown. He once again found himself in a similar position in the Wimbledon final against Sinner, but this time, he couldn’t repeat what he did in Paris and ended up losing the match in four sets.

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