"After I won my first Roland Garros, 2 months I was going the wrong path" - Iga Swiatek opens up about overcoming distractions like social media
Iga Swiatek recently spoke about the distractions she struggled to deal with after winning her first Grand Slam title in 2020.
Swiatek, the current World No. 1, shot to fame after winning the 2020 French Open. Coming into the tournament, she was ranked World No. 54. However, the unseeded Pole swept all before her as she reached the final following wins over Marketa Vondrousova, Hsieh Su-wei, Eugenie Bouchard, top seed Simona Halep, Martina Trevisan, and Nadia Podoroska.
In the final, the Pole faced fourth seed Sofia Kenin. However, there were no nerves shown by Swiatek despite facing a much higher-ranked opponent who was also the 2020 Australian Open champion. Over 2 sets, Swiatek dismantled Kenin 6-4, 6-1 to win her maiden Grand Slam title. As a result, her ranking skyrocketed to World No. 17 after the tournament.
Since then, Swiatek has won 3 more Grand Slam titles and a whole host of other prestigious tournaments on the WTA tour. Currently preparing to kickstart her campaign at the Dubai Tennis Championships, the 22-year-old was asked by the press ahead of the event about the pressures of being the World No. 1 and the distractions of social media.
"I would say I'm doing good job, like, separating that. I don't use really social media during the tournaments. I just post my stuff and that's all. For sure, when I go on social media when I'm not playing tournaments, yeah, it can distract a person. I would say also when you start making successes, having successes, it's easy to focus on the business part of the sport and forget what you are actually here to do, the work that you should put."
"I remember after I won my first Roland Garros, like 2 months I really was going the wrong path. The practices weren't a priority in my schedule, in my head, you know? I remember my team had to kind of push me right back on the right path," Swiatek said ahead of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Iga Swiatek won the Qatar Open for the third successive year
Swiatek's 2024 campaign began at the Australian Open. While she defeated her 2020 French Open final opponent Sofia Kenin comfortably in the first round, she survived a scare in the second round against Danielle Collins.
The World No. 1 continued to look shaky in her third-round match against teenager Linda Noskova. Ultimately, the teenager prevailed, and Swiatek suffered one of the shocks of the year's first Major.
The Pole's next outing was at the Qatar Open. However, this time around, Swiatek looked back to her best as she shook off challenges from Sorana Cirstea, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Victoria Azarenka to reach the semifinals. Her semifinal opponent Karolina Pliskova withdrew, which gave Swiatek a walkover into the final, where she faced Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina started the match strongly, but the World No. 1 grew into the contest. She was also helped by the fact that the World No. 4 accidentally suffered an injury while serving. Ultimately, Swiatek won 7-6(8), 6-2 and clinched the Qatar Open title for the third year in a row.