2024 Finals players to watch: Iga Swiatek
07/11/2024 17:00
Iga Swiatek has enjoyed some stunning successes in 2024 and Poland's Grand Slam champion will be hoping to end her season on a real high at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga
By Kevin Palmer
Swiatek was the dominant player on the WTA Tour in the opening half of 2024, winning the French Open title for a fourth time and claiming four of the first six WTA 1000 titles and an Olympic bronze medal in Paris as she moved her game to the next level.
Fatigue was always likely to be a concern after playing so much tennis and so it proved, with a third round defeat at Wimbledon against Yulia Putintseva backed up by a quarter-final loss at the US Open against Jessica Pegula.
Those setbacks contributed to the loss of the world No. 1 ranking, but Swiatek admits the pressure of being the leading light on the women's tour has never sat easily with her.
At 20 years, 308 days old, Swiatek became the youngest player to claim the world No. 1 ranking since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 following the sudden retirement of Ashleigh Barty in early 2022, yet the star who will lead Poland's challenge at this year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals concedes she was something of a reluctant leader of the next generation of women's tennis stars.
"I didn't fully understand what had happened," said Swiatek, as she looked back on her sudden rise to the top of the women's game.
"Ash was the undisputed leader, she played the best tennis – even though I knew where she would hit, it was still difficult to cope with her shot.
"At first, her departure was strange to me. I felt it was a great loss for the sport. I have great respect for her. Besides, I had an idea of what the end of her career would mean for me. I had been No. 2 for just a few days, and suddenly there was an opportunity to move to the top of the rankings.
"Last year (in 2023), I felt like a lot of anxiety and pressure with being world No. 1. Feeling that I might lose it. Then this year, I didn't feel it that much. I feel more mature in terms of not really thinking about the rankings and the points."
Swiatek took a break from the game after the US Open and also made changes to her team, with Wim Fissette joining as her new coach as she looks to add new facets to her game heading into 2025.
In the opinion of seven-time Grand Slam singles champion John McEnroe, Swiatek could improve her game by adding additional layers, as he backed the 23-year-old to become a more complete player in the next decade.
"One issue for me with Iga is she doesn't want to play defence at all," said McEnroe. "At times, she should pull back when the offence isn't going as well as it can do on clay. She keeps trying to hit out, which is somewhat surprising for someone who prefers a slower surface.
"I don't know if she had a dip in confidence, but if you saw someone like Iga digging in and defending as well as she attacks, that would be hard for opponents to overcome.
"I'm a little surprised she has not made that adjustment, but she is young. Hopefully she can make that adjustment and improve a little at the net.
"What we can say is Iga is already an incredible tennis player. She is the best on clay by a distance and she can adapt her game to improve on other surfaces."
Swiatek admits the pressure of being in the spotlight is an aspect of her life she does not enjoy, as she is most at home crashing her unforgiving ground shots past opponents on a tennis court.
Her relentless desire to win is highlighted by the remarkable number of 6-0 sets she posts each season, with the 12 she recorded in this year's regular WTA Tour season backed up by five more in her Billie Jean King Cup career.
She made her debut for Poland when they were down in Europe/Africa Group I in February 2018, with her rise up the tennis ladder mirroring her nation's emergence in the biggest team event in women's tennis.
Swiatek boasts a 9-2 winning record in her singles matches in this competition and was a key player for Poland as they came through their Qualifiers tie against Switzerland in April, as she won her two singles matches in impressive fashion.
"I'm super happy and proud of everybody," said Swiatek after Poland booked their place in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. "It's been a really fun week so I'm happy that this time I could lead my team to be in the Finals.
"Hopefully we're going to finish it in November, but I'm super proud of what we achieved."
Poland have never won the Billie Jean King Cup, but a fit and firing Swiatek will give them a big chance of getting their name on the list of champions in Malaga this year.
