“It won’t happen all the time,” Iga Swiatek opens up on the rising expectations of fans to see her win every match as she prepares for the 2023 WTA Finals

Iga Swiatek talks about the expectations of fans on her and the pressure factor that has made her suffer quite a few times this season.

“It won’t happen all the time,” Iga Swiatek opens up on the rising expectations of fans to see her win every match as she prepares for the 2023 WTA Finals

Iga Swiatek (Source: Sky Sports)

Former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who is on the hunt to reclaim her ranking from Aryna Sabalenka, starts her campaign at the 2023 WTA Finals on Sunday. Swiatek has had a great year with a Grand Slam title in her bag but such has been the dominance of Sabalenka this season that Swiatek had to make way for the Belarussian leaving her fans on the sad side. 

With fans growing desperate for Iga to move back to the top spot, she talked about the pressure factor that has always been a disadvantageous factor for the past few months.

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At the pre-match conference, Swiatek talked about how much fans always want her to win, and she agreed that it’s not always possible to get the right results, but despite that, she wishes to push herself harder for the future. 

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Sometimes I felt like it’s just kind of ridiculous because people got used to me winning. It’s not like it’s going to happen all the time.
Iga said on WTA Finals Cancun Press

Continuing her train of thought, she further added: 

So I think this season was kind of more normal, I would say, like most of the seasons we play, for even the top players. I think the main thing that I want to avoid is forgetting that this was also a good season and I still won some great tournaments.

She concluded: 

I won a Grand Slam. For sure the expectations from the outside, it was the thing that really sometimes stopped me this season. I’m going to work on not letting it stop me this time.

Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals till date:

Iga Swiatek didn’t have the best of forms at the WTA Finals, considering that she has already played at the competition on two occasions. Swiatek entered the 2021 WTA Finals as the fifth-seeded player and was clubbed up with players such as Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, and Paula Badosa in the group Chichén Itzá. She failed to make it to the semi-final stage, having lost two of the three group stage matches.

Iga Swiatek and Marketa Vondrousova ahead of their matchup at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters. (credits: Sky Sports)

Last year, she entered the competition as the top seed player and was placed in the group Tracy Austin alongside Coco Gauff, Daria Kasatkina, and Caroline Garcia. She won all the group stage games as everyone would have expected and set up a semi-final clash with Sabalenka only to get knocked out by the Belarussian in a three-set thrilling encounter.

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