Chris Evert advises Iga Swiatek to take emotional control and tunnel vision lessons from ‘Machine’ Novak Djokovic
Chris Evert asks Iga Swiatek to improve the emotional aspects to her already skillful game learning the lessons from Novak Djokovic.
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Chris Evert, Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic
Former World No.1 Chris Evert has her say on the Polish World No.1 Iga Swiatek‘s recent struggles. She opined that the Polish is still the player to beat on tour but the emotional aspects of her game has to be improved. She also gave the example of the mindset of Novak Djokovic for her to follow. For the uninitiated, Iga Swiatek shockingly lost to Barbora Krejcikova in the finals of the Dubai Open championships finals despite being in top form.
As Evert said, “We know she has the game physically, “We know she’s a great competitor, and she’s a great athlete. She’s got wonderful tools, and a wonderful skill set in tennis. But it seems like in the matches that she’s lost, that emotional part has broken down. [Novak] Djokovic is almost like a machine. He goes out there and, you know, he can just have that tunnel vision and focus and not let his emotions get in the way. I think Iga has shown in some matches that she has let her emotions get the best of her.”
She continued, “So she would just have to be aware of that, I think. But she is still the player to beat, no matter what you say. I think Iga is an emotional person, and I think the mental and the emotional side of the game will, at times, present challenges to her as it has in the past. She’s not a machine.“
“She’s a young woman that feels deeply, and I just think that has been a discipline for her to learn to stay calm in matches and to learn to not panic and to not get anxiety. Historically, she has talked about the fact that she gets anxious in life and on the tennis court.” (Source: Eurosport)
Also Read: WATCH: Andy Murray and Gael Monfils share heartwarming reunion at 2023 Indian Wells practice
Iga Swiatek will look to come back stronger in sunshine double
The Polish star was truly enjoying being back at the top of her game. It was understandable how big the Qatar Open win was for Iga Swiatek even though it was only a WTA-500 tournament. She would have had to deal with a lot of demons after the shocking loss in Australian Open 2023 where she was the firm favorite.
Being able to win all the matches after destroying the opponents was a huge confidence booster for her. Though she didn’t have to face Belinda Bencic in the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament due to the latter’s withdrawal, winning a tournament in three hours including three bagels after giving away just five games the whole tournament is quite unreal. In the final there in Qatar, the Super Polish destroyed the American World No.4 Jessica Pegula in straights: 6-3, 6-0.
In the Dubai Open also, She was in top-notch form until the finals, defeating each of her opponents in straight sets. Her semi-final opponent Coco Gauff was the only player who was able to take away more than two games against the Polish in Dubai. Keeping these results in mind, all odds were in favor of the Polish in the finals but the Czech World No.30 had different plans.
The Dubai final loss will be a hard pill to swallow for World No.1 and how she is going to bounce back needs to be seen in the coming months starting from the Indian Wells tournament which begins next week.
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)