With a new coach in her corner and a full season up ahead, Polish Grand Slam winner and former World No.1 Iga Swiatek is bullish about winning her first title of the season soon and is hoping to add more Grand Slam titles to the five she has already bagged.
The popular Pole lost to eventual champion Madison Keys of the US in a three-setter semi-final at the Australian Open in Melbourne last month. She, however, said waiting for her first title of the season is not a major concern.
I know how tennis works. It doesn't always depend on you if you win titles or not. You just have to put (in a) hundred percent effort and commitment and you'll get your chances if you play well and if you work hard.
For sure, it will be nice to win some tournaments, but it's never helpful to think about it before (a tournament starts). You have to focus on every match and take it step by step. I'm going to try to do that again (this week).
Last October, the Pole hired Wim Fissette as her new coach, a new partnership that is a work in progress, Swiatek said.
My pre-season was basically two weeks long because of playing in the Billie Jean King Cup and I started the season early. I guess we're doing as much as possible in between the tournaments, which are not long if you do well in tournaments. We're kind of managing that, balancing that, having proper time to adjust to the conditions at tournaments. These practice sessions are always something you feel you're not going to change much in your game. We're trying to be efficient and use every practice (session) knowing our goals," said the Polish former World No.1.
Wim, for sure, has good ideas on what to change in my game. It is hard (to make changes) when you have to change places every week and adjust to the conditions in tournaments. But this is tennis, and this is what our sport looks like. So all you can do is adjust to it and just use this time as much as possible.
Swiatek admitted that Fissette is good at analyzing her game. "For sure, his experience is unreal. He's worked with players that have so many different characteristics and different personalities. I feel like he's been through everything in tennis, probably. I want to use that experience. I like how he works. He's showing me some different ways to do stuff.
He's really good at adjusting to the process. I like how he got along with Moczek (a former tennis player from Poland) and Daria (Kasatkina) to work together and not do a sudden revolution in my game or my preparation because this is not something I was looking for. I think we're balancing that pretty well, and Wim is so experienced. He is using his knowledge to make the process smooth.
Swiatek is aiming to win her fourth successive title at the WTA 1000 Qatar Open which kicked off in Doha on Sunday.
A three-time winner in Qatar, second seed Swiatek sounded cheerful ahead of her first match in Doha following a bye in the opening round. She takes on Maria Sakkari of Greece in her second match on Monday. Both players are 3-3 in head-to-head.
Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion, is sitting pretty at 13-1 in Doha, including 12 straight match-wins.
"It's nice to come back to a place you have such good memories from. I'm happy that I'm here because Doha gives me really positive vibes," Swiatek said. I'm already kind of focusing on the next one, not really coming back to what happened last (few) years. (I am) preparing and adjusting to the conditions, because for sure they are much different than in Australia or where I practice at home.
Honestly, hard to say. From what I remember it's not like I've been playing flawlessly. It's not like these tournaments were perfect (for me). At some points, I have always found some solutions. I think the conditions here are pretty tricky, and I was patient enough to just keep focusing on my game and playing my tennis. Every year there was a different story, so it's hard to compare and hard to find one thing that worked exactly. I can (win again), I don't know, use my topspin more here. But we'll see how this year's going to look like.
Swiatek said a WTA 1000 event like the Qatar Open does not match the pressure of appearing in a Grand Slam.
I feel like it's just the beginning of the season, we'll get many chances during the year to show our best game. I would say ten 1000 events (in a season) is a lot (laughing), so I guess the perspective depends on the person. I mean, we've been through a Grand Slam already (last month's Australian Open), so I feel we're all in the rhythm already. We've been through the highest pressure you can have in a Grand Slam, so playing a 1000 wouldn't be a problem, I think, at this point:
