Sharada Iyer — Tennis With An Accent
On Monday, returning to the site where she won the third major of her career at the 2022 U.S. Open, Iga Swiatek ensured that her path into the second round was brisk. Her opponent, Rebecca Peterson, came up short on shot after shot in almost every game across both sets that were played. It wasn’t that she didn’t try. No matter what shot she came up with, Swiatek always had an answer that outdid Peterson’s efforts. In the end, the 22-year-old put an end to the tussle after just 57 minutes with the loss of one game – 6-0, 6-1.
The scoreline of the first set added to the umpteen bagels Swiatek has dished out so far to her opponents. Be it the majors or the WTA 1000s, or even the WTA 500s, the Pole seems to find a way to come up with such a lopsided score. Then, once the job is done, she prefers not to harbour over it, preferring to keep the focus on self-improvement and her evolution as a tennis player.
After her win over Peterson, Swiatek’s penchant for downplaying her dominance came to the fore once again.
She told the press, “I really wanted to play solid and start the tournament with everything I was focusing on in practice for the whole week here. I’m happy that I could play such a great game, and with all the pressure and expectations, that I can just have fun on court. I just keep trying to remind myself that I want to develop as a player and that’s the most important thing for me. All the numbers and stuff they don’t really matter. I think that’s what the best of our sport do. So, I’m trying to follow that and play my game no matter what.”
As much as there’s a contrast in Swiatek’s on-game and post-game attitude, there’s also a stark difference in her attitude when it comes to issues concerning tennis’ macro picture. Like, when she took up the subject of the business side of the sport interfering with the players’ well-being, heads-on.
During the Canadian Open in Montreal, in what was one of the biggest pitstops of the North American hard-court swing, a rain delay coupled with the need to televise the bigger matches led to inconvenient scheduling.
Back then, World No. 3 Elena Rybakina broached the subject on how the delay in finishing her match against Daria Kasatkina in the quarterfinal affected her in the following round. Once Rybakina had spoken her piece, it was as if Swiatek – when asked her thoughts on the matter – was waiting to pick up the baton her colleague held. Once she did, the World No. 1 didn’t really mince her words.
“It’s pretty hard to handle it, when you have to play in the middle of the night for a couple of weeks. And it’s not like we’re finishing and going to sleep after two hours. For me, I’m happy if I go to sleep four hours after I finish. I have almost one hour of treatment, obviously media, I have to stretch after the match, food, and then getting the adrenaline down isn’t easy as well. I wish it could change, that’s all,” Swiatek observed.
“For sure, weather is something we can’t really predict, but maybe we should focus more on what is healthy for players because we have to compete every week. The tour is so intense with travel, and not actually having two days of calm, and not working, that it would be nice in the future to focus on players, especially next year when there will be more and more mandatory tournaments and longer tournaments.”
In a no-nonsense construct, Swiatek set out the expectations the players – including herself – sought as a priority-marker from their profession’s parent body, the WTA. Her words reflected her beliefs and the courage she had to stand by them, especially in circumstances like these.
This wasn’t, however, the first time Swiatek had come up with such a polite-but-firm stance of her own. Be it in her immediate stepping up for the Ukrainians’ cause and continuing to do so until now, or by calling out social media trolls, the youngster has not been selective in picking up her causes.
That Swiatek can become a presence on this scale off the court, while she has risen and been consistent at the top of the tennis world, seems like her way to show not only she’s aware of her responsibilities as a player and person, but that she’s also determined to fulfill them as best as she can.
Tennis with an Accent 