Iga Swiatek won the WTA finals in Cancun (Mexico) in an impressive way. A portrait of the special features of the best player in women’s tennis.
Jessica Pegula experienced the highest form of “Monster Mode”. In the final of the WTA Finals, Iga Swiatek swept them in 59 minutes and won the year with impressive dominance 6:0, 6:1. While the American was able to keep up somewhat in the first few minutes of the game, she quickly had no chance at all against the Pole. Thanks to her aggressive style, Swiatek played 11 games in a row and danced with joy on her bench after the game.
The 22-year-old thanked the fans, her family (“it’s not often that my father is there, thank you for coming and for your support”) and her team. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season, but this is definitely a high. And we’ll definitely have many more if we keep working like this,” said Swiatek.
Creative methods for success
The methods of their work are unique on the WTA tour. She is the only player who is always accompanied by a mental coach. “I started working with psychologists early on. At the moment I’m working with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz, which is great because she can see every day what I do when I experience a difficult situation or what happens “If I’m successful,” Swiatek told Vogue. “You have to work on both, because dealing with success isn’t easy either.”
The fact that the 1.70 meter tall top player has this is the result of a constant optimization process, which recently also resulted in rather strange images. She was spotted on the training court with her mouth taped shut. “We do a lot of things to improve my body and make it more resilient, better and stronger,” Swiatek explained. Just breathing through her nose would increase her heart rate and make everything on the court more difficult, improving her endurance without any additional work.
Iga Swiatek is known for extraordinary methods.
Fighter on and off the pitch
In the interview with US magazine she also said: “I switch into this ‘monster mode’ for the match. And that’s what I have to do to show my best game. Off the court I’m much calmer. I don’t like anyone Noise, I don’t like crowded places.” Swiatek is a player who is aware of her surroundings. Who also raises her voice when she thinks she is experiencing something wrong.
She criticized the WTA for its handling of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and demanded that players from Russia and Belarus be excluded from the competitions. Not to harm them, but to send a signal to the aggressors. “I think we could have done more since the beginning of the war and shown that we are against the war. The players can’t help what passport they have, but I think we should have used every opportunity that could help to end the war,” Swiatek told the BBC.
Iga Swiatek (l.) describes the Ukrainian Elina Switolina.
And the high stress on the tour and the increasingly frequent late-night games ensured that Swiatek publicly expressed her opinion to the World Tennis Association. “Perhaps we should pay a little more attention to the health of the players because after all we have to play week after week,” demanded Swiatek. “The tour is so tiring due to all the traveling that it would be nice if the attention was focused on the players.”
Relief despite defeat at US Open
This attitude that the result on the tennis court is not everything also ensured an unusual way of dealing with what was actually a terrible defeat this year. At the US Open she failed in the round of 16 and lost the lead in the world rankings after 75 weeks. And yet Swiatek said afterwards: “I’m just happy that I have time to switch off, come home for a while and do other things than on tour.”
After her win at the WTA Finals, Swiatek is now back at the top of women’s tennis. It’s great to be the best, but also “very exhausting.” “It’s not easy to deal with everything that goes around. This season is really hard and intense,” she said recently.
“Control is important to me, in life and on the court,” she explained to “Tennis Magazine,” but in the tennis circuit with the many tournaments and trips all over the world that is not always possible. Music is a great outlet for her to switch off. Before games she usually listens to rock music by AC/DC; her song used to get in the mood was “Welcome to the jungle” by Guns’n Roses. She needs the push to celebrate big victories. “You don’t get up in the morning to be average,” Swiatek said.
Navratilova and Nadal as role models
She learned this from her idols. For women it is Martina Navratilova. “I had the opportunity to talk to her about technology. Her knowledge and everything she has achieved in the sport is indescribable,” enthused Swiatek.
On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal became her big hero when she saw him play in a tournament at the age of 15. Through him she tried to understand what it takes to be a top player. “He never gives up, he has the right values and he stays down to earth. He’s still the same even though he’s so successful,” Swiatek said.
She also says that she hasn’t changed despite the hiccup on the tour. She is still looking for peace and quiet because the noise quickly becomes too much for her. But she needs him on the pitch. Like at the WTA finals in Cancun, which she won without losing a set. In five matches she only gave up 20 games. It was the pinnacle of “Monster Mode”.
