The crowd in Dubai witnessed a completely unexpected happening as Anna Kalinskaya served Iga Swiatek with a straight-set defeat. As the Polish tennis star was exposed to a harsh defeat, the magnitude of the loss came out to be quite bigger than just a regular setback.
Swiatek’s defeat against Kalinskaya not only ended her dream of making it to the finals in Dubai but also ended her seven-match win streak. As the world no.1 came forward to talk about the loss, she solely blamed herself for the defeat.
Iga Swiatek takes the blame on herself after her recent defeat against Anna Kalinskaya
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Iga Swiatek recently faced a setback in the Dubai Tennis Championship semifinals against Anna Kalinskaya. The defeat came out to be quite disturbing as it ended her dream for the rare Doha-Dubai title double. While Kalinskaya made it to the finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the world number one, the disappointment was seen in every word that Swiatek uttered.
Swiatek says that today's result had more to do with her own level than Kalinskaya's even though the latter played well@TalkingTennisTT pic.twitter.com/6PIW7GaWjM
— Srihari 🇵🇸 (@srihariravi12) February 23, 2024
In a post-match conference, Swiatek expressed her disappointment and took responsibility for the recent loss against her Russian opponent. She acknowledged Kalinskaya’s strong performance but also accepted her own shortcomings, saying, “Today I would say, I mean she played well and for sure she deserves to be in the final but I feel it was more about me and my level.”
Although the defeat proved to be of quite a high magnitude, Swiatek remained focused on self-improvement as she talked about her preparation. She stated, “So I want to be focused on myself. I would say the preparation was the best I could do anyway but I wasn’t able to make anything that made sense today.”
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Despite the disheartening defeat, Swiatek’s self-acceptance and the mindset of self-improvement show that success is not just about hard work, but also about the psychological balance that is required to stay on top of the game.
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Kalinskaya made Swiatek feel out of ‘power’
Besides taking the blame on herself, Iga Swiatek also explained what actually happened in her match against Anna Kalinskaya. The tennis star mentioned a rare situation of feeling a lack of power within herself.
“I didn’t have power anymore to give even more, which doesn’t happen often,” she said. Digging deep into the unexpected situation, she elaborated, “I just felt out of control a little bit because of that. Usually, when I tell myself what to do, I can improve my game. Today I was so out of power and tired that I just couldn’t.”
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As Anna Kalinskaya looks forward to the highly anticipated final match against Jasmine Paolini, it still remains to be seen if she manages to perform the same magic against her.
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