Iga Swiatek conquered just over a week ago his second Roland Garros at the age of 21. The Pole, who saw it almost impossible to become the best on the circuit, leads the ranking with a clear superiority. In an interview with Arab News, Iga Swiatek talks about the expectations she had of herself, as well as her transition to the grass surface.
On the WTA circuit since 2019
“Of course I wanted to earn more money. She was pretty disappointed because I always felt like I could do better. I was brought up to be really professional and always have this need to improve, something that sometimes doesn’t help. When you’re a perfectionist, it can push you down.
It was quite difficult for me to think that I would be number one in the world. Thinking logically, when you look at my country, how many people have been successful in tennis? Basically just Agnieszka. The chance of her making me a tennis superstar was pretty slim.
I always had a plan B, even when I was 18 years old. She was still in high school and very focused on that. I felt like I had two jobs at the same time, and even in 2020 I felt like I needed a plan B in case tennis didn’t work out.”
35 win streak
“I only played a smaller tournament in Stuttgart and you know what the prize is there (a Porsche sports car), so it wasn’t too hard to get motivated. I’m that kind of person who always wants to win. Honestly, I’m not going to get carried away and think, ‘I’m tired, so maybe I’m going to lose,’ because I always want to win and I’m always going to do my best to win.”
Do you feel unstoppable?
“I’ve never felt like this before, and that gives me a lot of confidence. It makes me not so scared. Before games I used to be scared, I still am sometimes, but now it’s much better, knowing that I can provide solutions and solve problems. It’s totally different”.
What is your next goal?
“I don’t know, I’m not going to lie. It is not that he has everything planned and all the objectives prepared. I have always wanted to win all the Grand Slams. I want to go tournament by tournament. I have my goals off the court, like trying to make tennis more popular in Poland and maybe giving some facilities to the younger players.
I know better what I want to do than what appears on Wikipedia when you write my name, but winning all four Grand Slams would be nice.
On the transition to grass
“The only thing I think about is that I want to prepare myself and learn to play better on grass. This is the only thing I am going to focus on. Sure Wimbledon is special, but for me the most important thing is to perform well and I still haven’t reached the feeling of comfort on grass. That will be my only goal.”
