“I will have a lot of opportunities to show my game during the season” – Swiatek maintains perspective despite disappointment

Iga Swiatek suffered a huge upset as she lost in the third round of the Australian Open to 19-year-old Czech Linda Noskova on Rod Laver Arena

Jérémy Baudu

January 20, 2024

Australian Open •Third round • completed

See draw

I. SwiatekvsL. Noskova

For the first time since Wimbledon 2022, Iga Swiatek exited a Grand Slam tournament before the second week. After two complicated first rounds against Sofia Kenin and especially Danielle Collins, the Pole did not manage to find the level of tennis that brought her the WTA Finals in Cancun at the end of last season.

Despite her earliest exit at the Australian Open in five years, Swiatek is not panicking after this defeat. as it does not mean that her season is already a failure. In a press conference, Swiatek showed that she has matured a lot since last year, explaining that the season is still very long.

“Last year, I felt like I was much more unbalanced,” she explained in her post-match press conference.

“I felt like the whole season could be difficult because of the missed start. I expected a lot more. This year, I’ve focused more on the results, the standings and my game.

“This year, I want to get back to work. I know I’ll have a lot of opportunities to show my game over the course of the season.

“Last year, I felt overwhelmed by starting the year as world number one. It threw me off the hook a bit. It was totally different than it is today, yes.”

swiatek felt in control for a set-and-a-half

The world No 1 hadn’t lost before the round of 16 of the Australian Open since 2019 when she fell in the second round to Camila Giorgi. Swiatek seemed to have the match in hand on Saturday against the 19-year-old Linda Noskova, with a one-set lead and chances to break in the second set.

But the Pole was taken by surprise by the world No 50, without being able to counter her opponent’s comeback. In a press conference, Swiatek admitted that she was going to need to review the footage to understand and learn from her mistakes in Melbourne.

“I don’t have many ideas at the moment,” she conceded.

“I’m going to look at and analyse what I did wrong. I don’t know what I did. I felt like I was in control of everything until she broke in the second set.

“But, yes, I had a couple of chances to break her in the second set and I didn’t use them. That’s too bad. But when she broke me, she was proactive. That’s what I wanted to do in the next games. Sometimes, yes, I rushed. I didn’t play with my intuition and in a natural way.”