Iga Swiatek is one of the mentally strongest players in the world: Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig
Iga Swiatek's mental strength is among the very best in world tennis, believes 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig. Sharing her thoughts on mental health in tennis, the Puerto Rican feels players these days are able to deal with the pressure of expectations a lot better, and highlighted Swiatek's abilities.
Like Puig at the Olympics, Swiatek also earned superstar status overnight by winning the 2020 French Open as an unseeded player without dropping a single set throughout the tournament. Since then, she has consistently been at the top of the WTA tour, with her dominant run of form since the 2022 season still ongoing.
Speaking on the topic of being able to back up the first bit of massive success with consistency, Puig believes Swiatek and other current top players have been handling that aspect quite well. Puig showered praise on Swiatek for her mental strength.
"I think they're doing a really good job of it, especially Iga," Monica Puig said recently on the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast.
"Wow, what can I say? Mentally, she's one of the strongest players out there."
Further shedding light on the topic of mental health, the former world No. 27 feels that players these days have more resources to deal with pressure and that their admissions of struggling with mental health are also met with much more 'understanding' responses than in the past.
The now-retired Puig recalled how difficult it was for her to deal with the pressure of expectations after winning the Olympic gold medal.
"To me, a lot of people would say, 'If you can't handle this pressure and what's going on right now, then you're not cut out for this.' That was the response," Puig explained.
"Nowadays, I feel like people are more understanding of the fact that we are going through all this pressure. It's more like, let's get help to see what you're going through and analyze it in a different way," she added.
Iga Swiatek reveals why she stays away from social media during tournaments
Iga Swiatek feels that staying away from social media and not reading a lot of what is being constantly written and said about her is one of the keys to not feeling stressed during tournaments. As her dominant form continues, Swiatek is expected to win every match she competes in and that too, comfortably.
Speaking at a press conference after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to enter the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Polish superstar reacted to the talk of her dominance on the tour.
"I don't really hear that a lot because during the tournaments I'm kind of trying to stay off social media as much as possible. I'm posting my stuff. It's not like I'm reading a lot," Iga Swiatek said on the same.
The 21-year-old will take on Barbora Krejcikova in Saturday's final in Dubai. The Czech player beat Swiatek in the final in Ostrava last season and is one of only four players to have beaten the Pole since September last year.