Iga Swiatek vows to take lessons from Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal in her pursuit to get back the No.1 ranking

Iga Swiatek lost her World No.1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka on Monday.

Iga Swiatek vows to take lessons from Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal in her pursuit to get back the No.1 ranking

Igga Swiatek (Image via US Open YouTube)

Polish tennis ace Iga Swiatek was shocked by Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round of the 2023 US Open as she lost the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. This means that Swiatek won’t be the top-ranked player anymore. She would lose her No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka who had been closing in for a long time now. 

While Swiatek is upset about the fact that she will lose it after being at the top for 75 consecutive weeks, the Pole has vowed to take lessons from the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic about how to get it back. Swiatek said that she loves being the top-ranked player and will do everything in her capacity to get it back. 

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“It means a lot, obviously (to be the No.1 player in the world) and (losing) it was pretty exhausting. I just need to do all this stuff that my team and all these great players like Roger, Novak, and Rafa are talking about. You just have to focus on tournaments, not the rankings,” said Swiatek at the post-match press conference. 

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Swiatek further stated that while she does not always look at numbers, she likes them overall and thus would like to extend her record of being the World No.1 player. The Pole spent 75 weeks, the 12th most in history, behind the great Chris Evert. The Pole then said that she knows it will come back. “But for sure when it happens, when you lose [the No. 1 ranking], there are some sad emotions. As I said at the beginning, all these great players know it’s going to come back if you’re going to work hard, focus on the right things, just develop as a player,” Swiatek added.

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Iga Swiatek fails to find answers for her defeat to Jelena Ostapenko

Iga Swiatek playing
Iga Swiatek (Image via US Open)

While Iga Swiatek is firm about getting her No. 1 ranking back, the Pole just could not understand what went wrong for her in the match against Jelena Ostapenko. When asked about the probable cause for her defeat, Swiatek sounded clueless. “I don’t really know what happened with my game,” she said. “I felt no control suddenly. I just have to watch and see, because I didn’t really know why I started making so many mistakes.”

Iga Swiatek started the match on a high, clinching the first set 6-3. However, it went downhill from thereon as her Latvian opponent kept firing winners at Swiatek. The 22-year-old ended up conceding the second 3-6 and the decider was even worse. Swiatek managed to win only one set. The Pole could not understand how her game dipped after starting well.

“I’m just surprised that my level changed so drastically because usually when I play bad, I play bad at the beginning, then I kind of catch up or just problem-solve,” she said in her post-match presser. “This time it was totally the opposite.”

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