Iga Swiatek: "Until I was 17 or 18, it was hard sometimes to look people in the eyes; there was a time when speaking to people was a real challenge"
Iga Swiatek has firmly placed herself as the WTA player to beat these days, delighting fans with her marvelous shots on the tennis court as well as her bubbly personality off it. But by her own admission, the 21-year-old was not always so confident in either domain.
Writing for the Players' Tribune, the World No. 1 revealed this unknown side of her, stating that she was never one of those kids who dreamt about being a successful tennis player growing up. Instead, Swiatek only dreamed about breaking out of her own introversion, recalling that it was a "real challenge" for her to talk to strangers.
The three-time Grand Slam champion, in fact, disclosed that when she was a teenager, she had difficulties even looking people in the eye, making life unbelievably hard for her.
"You might imagine that I stayed up all night as a kid dreaming about being a big tennis player, but no. To tell you the truth, at night, I dreamed about feeling a bit more natural in social situations," Iga Swiatek said. "There was a time in my life when I was so introverted that speaking to people was a real challenge. Until I was 17 or 18, it was hard sometimes to look people in the eyes. I hated how hard it was for me."
Iga Swiatek, however, made it clear that she had no regrets about that particular phase of her life, as troubling as it was. Just because her story isn't similar to that of most other athletes, the Pole doesn't think she should feel any embarrassment about it.
"It felt really bad not being able to make connections," Iga Swiatek said. "But with some people, my mind was just blank, and I didn’t know what to say. Small talk wasn’t natural to me. My story isn’t like a lot of other athletes, and that’s okay."
The 21-year-old also revealed that she didn't instantly fall in love with the sport, remarking that although she loved tennis a lot to begin with, she did not have any particular dreams about making it big on the professional stage.
"Even on the court, I wasn’t that kind of kid who instantly fell in love with the racket. When I hear stories like that from other athletes, I think, can a kid really feel it?? Because it wasn’t like that for me, not at six," Iga Swiatek said. "I definitely liked playing a lot, but at the beginning, I didn’t dream of being a professional tennis player. That was my dad’s dream then."
"He taught me how to be a professional, and have discipline and regularity" - Iga Swiatek on her father Tomasz
That particular dream of Iga Swiatek becoming a tennis professional, meanwhile, belonged to her father Tomasz, who took it upon himself to make her and her sister Agata into athletes. The World No. 1 reminisced fondly about how her dad would come looking for her at school to ensure that she trained in tennis properly instead of kidding around with her friends.
"[My dad] wanted his daughters to do sports, to be active and maybe someday become athletes. I remember when I was 10 (and a little more extroverted), I’d want to stay after school and play football with the other kids rather than training tennis," Swiatek said. "My dad would come looking for me at school, shouting, 'Igaaaa, come here!!!' There were many moments where I didn’t want to push myself at tennis, so he did."
The three-time Grand Slam champion lavished praise on her father, thanking him for believing in her and teaching her about professionalism and discipline. At the same time, Swiatek made it clear that he wasn't "super tough" on her, just leading her the right way by giving her healthy routines.
"He was always there, believing in me. He taught me how to be a professional, and have discipline and regularity. It was something he gave me to use in sport and in life. It wasn’t that he was super tough," Iga Swiatek said. "But he was strict about practices and healthy routines in a way that, when I look back on it, I’m grateful for. My dad was that voice in my head that was always leading me the right way."