Iga Swiatek: "I had to kind of grow up tennis-wise pretty quickly because I became World No. 1 and I had to handle that"
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek stated that she had to grow up very quickly in her professional life after attaining success post last year's Indian Wells tournament.
Swiatek has established herself as the best female tennis player in the world through some sensational performances over the past 12 months that included winning two Grand Slams.
The Pole inched a step closer to defending her title in Indian Wells by booking her place in the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Sorana Cirstea. She was asked in her post-match conference how she has changed as a person since her triumph at last season's BNP Paribas Open.
Swiatek said that she had to grow up a lot from a professional perspective in order to handle being the World No. 1.
"It depends, because like professionally I think I change a lot, because I'm in a totally different situation. I had to kind of grow up tennis-wise pretty quickly because I became World No. 1 and I had to handle that," Swiatek said.
She claimed that in her personal life, she was growing up at a normal pace.
"Plus, you know, winning two more slams, it was a dream come true, but also, you know, a huge experience. But as a person I think I'm just growing up like a normal way . Yeah," she added.
Iga Swiatek will face Elena Rybakina in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open
After defeating Sorana Cirstea, Iga Swiatek will next take on 10th seed Elena Rybakina in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
It will be the third meeting between the two, with their head-to-head currently tied at 1-1. However, Rybakina won their most recent encounter, which came in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Iga Swiatek said that she did not properly watch the Kazakh during her quarterfinal against Karolina Muchova.
"Honestly, I watched like -- I didn't really focus. I was just watching I think the end of first set, because there was a tiebreaker, and I was just curious," the World No. 1 said.
The 21-year-old said her focus was on the Czech while watching the match.
"Really, I didn't really watch a lot of what Elena did. I was more focused on what Karolina did, because I feel like she can play great tennis but because of her injuries she wasn't able to do that, and it's great to see her performing that well," she added.
Swiatek also said that Rybakina can play good tennis, as evidenced by her fourth-round performance at the Australian Open.
"Elena, I know she can play great tennis, I felt that on my racquet. I don't need any proof. I'll just be ready for tomorrow, and that's all," the Pole said.
The winner of their semifinal match will face either second seed Aryna Sabalenka or seventh seed Maria Sakkari in the final of the BNP Paribas Open.