Iga Swiatek shuts critics after Stuttgart title defense justifying her World No 1 rank

Proud Iga Swiatek has her say about the pressure of expectations after clinching the Stuttgart Open by defeating Aryna Sabalenka,

Iga Swiatek shuts critics after Stuttgart title defense justifying her World No 1 rank

Iga Swiatek

Polish World No.1 Iga Swiatek thrashed World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in a repeat of last year’s final in Stuttgart. The final score was 6-3, 6-4. In a much-anticipated final between the world’s best players at the moment, The Polish took the driver’s seat in the eighth game of the first set to get the break. She continued the rhythm at the beginning of the second set as she broke the Belarusian in the first game itself to sail through.

After the clinical service games in which she faced only one break point throughout the match, the Polish didn’t confine her happiness of playing her best after some dark months. As she said, “Well, I’m just pretty proud of my consistency, because when I was consistent on another level, it was nice, but this level kind of, it’s over my expectations even.”

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A proud Iga Swiatek continued her train of thought during the post-press conference, “So last year was really, really tough, and I felt like this season may be tough, you know, because of what people are saying and expectations from the outside. And also, you know, I knew how it is to like win these tournaments in a row. So I just hope that I’m not gonna be the kind of person who is you going to suddenly expect it on every tournament.”

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Iga Swiatek talked about the pressure of expectations during the press

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek

Always being vocal about her feelings on the court, the Polish World No.1 elaborated on how hard it was for her to deal with the pressure of expectations in every single tournament she plays. She was on a one-woman show last year after the untimely retirement of Ash Barty after clinching the Australian Open title. Being become World No.1 thereafter, Swiatek has never gone out of that position yet.

As Swiatek said about the pressure handling, “I’m happy that I managed to work through it. That was probably the biggest, and maybe I’m still gonna have situations like that, you know, but that was like the biggest thing that I had to go through at the beginning of the year. Now I feel like I just can use my experience a little bit more, more than like worry about stuff. I’m just happy that I’m World No. 1 for more than a year, and it’s an exciting time (smiling).”

This is the second title of the World No.1 this year. After moving to 4-0 in the clay season now, Swiatek will be the top favorite to win the French Open as well. She has already spoken about her wishes to peak for the Grand Slam tournaments and the tennis world is expecting yet another Swiatek show in the coming months and clay tournaments.

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