Beaten Swiatek disappointed at missed opportunity but positive for rest of season
The Pole said she felt better in Melbourne than in the past, but praised Madison Keys for her performance in reaching the final
@Julien Nouet/Tennis Majors
Iga Swiatek will have to wait at least another year to get to an Australian Open final but after coming as close as it’s possible to without winning – she had a match point against Madison Keys in the semis on Thursday night – the Pole says she feels more positive about the rest of the year than she has in the past.
World No 2 Swiatek served for the match at 6-5 in the decider and had a match point at 40-30 but couldn’t take it as Keys held firm, broke back and won the resulting match tiebreak 10-8 to win 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8), reach her second slam final and her first in Melbourne.
“I felt better here than I had in previous years”
Swiatek was clearly upset by her loss and took longer than usual to come to her post-match press conference but when she did, she was reflective and thoughtful, praising Keys and looking ahead rather than pouring over the pain of a semi-final loss, a defeat that also cost her chance to return to the world No 1 ranking if she won the title.
“Overall, pretty positive,” she said, asked to sum up her month in Australia. “As a person, I’ve been feeling a bit better than previous years here. For sure United Cup always brings a lot of positive emotions, but here I always felt tense and really, I don’t know, just like not always happy.
“This year it was different. For sure it gives me like, a positive vibe for the rest of the season. Obviously for sure I wanted more. I already played a semi-final (in 2022). I wanted to win this one, but I think if I keep working hard, I’ll have more chances in the future, and maybe I’ll use them as I didn’t use my match point today.
“I felt like I had my chance. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Maybe I’ll have more chances. I think I’m pretty spoiled in a way that I could always use these chances. When I had an opportunity to win, I always kind of win.
“Obviously it’s disappointing when it doesn’t happen, but this is sport, so it’s not always going to go my way. Madison also really did the work as she should. She totally deserves to be in the final.”
“I played good, but she played better”
This, though, was the first time Swiatek has lost a match having held match point and though she fought hard, she never quite looked as comfortable as she had in her first five matches, when she had dropped just 14 games.
Much of that was down to the play of the 29-year-old Keys, who played as good a match as she’s ever done at a Grand Slam to reach her second final, eight years after her runner-up finish at the US Open.
“It was a matter of one or two balls,” she said. “This match was long, so it had many different changes of momentum and many different moments that I could describe.
“I guess at the end Madison was kind of brave with her decisions and she pushed me when she needed to. Yeah, I would say I wasn’t feeling as free as on previous matches to also push in the important moments.
“I would say this first set and third set where I feel like I was playing my tennis, maybe OK, it wasn’t like 100 percent control as on previous matches. Still, I think I played good, but she played better.
“I did everything I could. I wouldn’t say, like, I flopped or, I don’t know,(that) I should have won it.”
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