‘Glad I Got Over It Quickly’ – Despite Ending the Year on a High, Iga Swiatek Refuses to Forget the Toxicity That Haunted Her 2023

A professional player’s performance on the tennis tour depends on a lot of factors. Among all of those, performance pressure is one that has a high chance of affecting the form that a player is in. Holding a top spot in the international rankings in women’s tennis, Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek stunned the fans with her performance in 2022, taking the expectations of the fans higher than ever. However, Swiatek recently spoke of the darker side of this experience.

After gaining a massive victory at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Iga Swiatek recently revealed a mistake that she committed while starting the season. The 2022 performance, which was more than the star even planned for herself, made her stand in a situation of pressure created by the expectations that surrounded her. Her recent revelation about this thought came as a shock as well as a learning for the enthusiasts.

Iga Swiatek reveals an irrelevant thought she carried while entering season 2023

Rising tennis star Iga Swiatek made it quickly to the top spot with her amazing performance in 2022. She gained an impressive total of 8 titles, including two major grand slam victories at the US Open and French Open. Along with the victories, it was quite obvious that expectations from the fans walked in as a complimentary reward.

Besides the cheers and appreciation from the fans, the world No.1 always thought of one particular thing. In a recent revelation about the dark thought, she confessed, “That period was hard. When the season started, everyone was wondering how I would play after such a successful year, so I felt that any result I had would be insufficient, anything other than winning the tournament. Instead of wanting to win, I hoped not to lose. It was not something constructive.”

Swiatek went on to express the emotional aspect of this mindset, as she explained, “I started the events in the Middle East with a different approach. I’m glad I got over it quickly.” This revelation marked a glimpse into the mental challenges that the players have to tackle. However, as the 22-year-old got over the destructive thought, her 2023 season was also full of remarkable achievements.

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A look back to Iga Swiatek’s 2023 season

The Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek had a remarkable 2023 season. The achievements that the 22-year-old hit came out to be nothing less than the ones she did in 2022. Starting the season with the ninth spot to gaining the top position in the world rankings, she won six titles, including her second French Open and her first WTA Finals. With a dominant 68-11 win-loss record, she also made it to the last eight of the Australian Open and the US Open, showing her consistent form in the game.

However, besides the accomplishments, the Pole also had to face several challenges that included fighting with a major injury. She had to overcome a rib injury that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon and made her miss several weeks of action.

However, she recovered in time for the hard court season and again shifted to her dominating mode with a massive performance at the Asian swing, winning the China Open and the WTA Finals. As the legend now looks forward to the upcoming season, fans hold even higher expectations from their favorite star.

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