Iga Swiatek says she is accepting that not everything will be perfect on the court and underlined that she is trying to never again enter the court “playing not to lose.” At the start of the season in Australia, Swiatek was evidently under enormous pressure and it resulted in her suffering a surprise round-of-16 exit.
After her Australian Open exit, Swiatek revealed that she was entering her matches in Australia “playing not to lose.” But going out and thinking she needed to win at any cost didn’t go well for Swiatek. Since returning to action last month, Swiatek has been looking much better.
“Well, after Australian Open, honestly I did a lot of work to not feel like I’m playing not to lose. So right now I don’t feel that way,” Swiatek said in Indian Wells.
“Well, just kind of reminding yourself, getting rid of the pressure a little bit, reminding yourself that you’re there to run, to play those longer rallies, and not to expect that you’re going to make every shot perfect because you’re doing it in practices.
Yeah, I just change my mindset, and I was really like digging into everything tennis-wise, so it kept my mind busy from all the fuss that is around to the rankings and everything,” Swiatek explained. There is one thing that Swiatek hasn’t changed – she is still entering her matches trying to do everything 100%.
But now Swiatek is not killing herself when she is doing everything right but the result somehow is not in her favor. “Well, my expectation is to just kind of do everything 100%, and kind of like focus on the process and not on the results.
Also, you know, trust a little bit myself more with my tennis. And also remember that I don’t get like 100% influenced on what’s gonna happen during the match, so sometimes it’s easier when you feel like not everything is on your shoulders. Yeah, that’s mostly it,” Swiatek said.
