The World Number One came, saw and conquered the Qatar TotalEnergies Open field for the second time in succession
Iga Swiatek had a memorable 2022 season in which she won two Grand Slams and six other tournaments. She produced a 37-match winning streak that started in Doha where she won the Qatar TotalEnergies Open title for the first time. From February until July last year, she was unbeatable on any surface she played on. The 21-year-old Warsaw-born repeated her Doha show when she dropped only five games in the entire tournament and sailed to her second Falcon Trophy.
Moments before receiving the winner’s trophy, three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek said: “It’s really a great event and I always enjoy coming back here. And I think I hope, you know, playing well here is going to become a routine or something.”
Playing well in Doha in 2023 – like she did last year – could it also mean she could run through opponents this year as well? The way her game has developed over the last 12 months, nobody would be willing to bet against her not doing well this season as well.
Here are excerpts from a chat with her after she won the Falcon Trophy, $120,707 and 497 points.
Question: Congratulations, Iga. Another wonderful week in Doha. What’s your magic secret?
SWIATEK: Wow. I honestly don’t know. I just feel really happy I could adjust quickly to the conditions. I was surprised that I was kind of using the wind the proper way. I’m really happy that I could find more balance compared to how I felt at the beginning of the season. I think this tournament is going to give me a lot of confidence, but still, I want to take everything step by step. I’m just really happy that I could win this match today.
Q: Jessica Pegula was just here saying she was really surprised at how accurate your forehand was despite the wind and the huge topspin. Were you also surprised, or how did you make it happen?
SWIATEK: I would say it kind of hit me that even though it was windy I could use the wind properly and kind of use my intuition to sometimes imagine that I should play shorter, or on the other hand, play with more topspin so the wind is going to kind of take this ball even further. So today (in the final) I just kind of continued that, but I didn’t really want to overanalyze that. I just played how my intuition told me. It’s nice, because usually I like basing everything on my tactics and on the technique that I’m working on. But here I felt like I could just reset that and play more freely without overthinking. Yeah, I’m pretty happy with how my forehand worked. We have been kind of also focusing on it after Australia, so, yeah, it’s great.
Q. Do you think you have played your best tennis of the season?
SWIATEK: I don’t know. Honestly, it’s hard to compare, because in Australia we played on such fast surfaces that I knew that I’m gonna have a little bit less control there. But for sure, this is the tournament where I felt the most comfortable and where I felt that I can easily kind of transfer all these things that I worked on during practices to matches. But I had some quality matches in Australia. It was just different conditions, so it’s kind of hard to compare.
Q. You said at the beginning of the week that you had to lower your expectations because you knew that you couldn’t play perfectly every time. That’s a strange way to prove it, because this week you were amazing.
SWIATEK: Yeah, but it happens because I managed to lower the expectations and I told myself before every match that the conditions are tricky, the tournament is so packed that I don’t have to expect from myself that I’m gonna play magnificent tennis. But then I felt better and better on court. I didn’t really come back to these thoughts. I just really enjoyed playing. Every game I was really focused and that’s the thing I’m most happy about, because at the beginning of the season I felt like my mind was kind of flying away sometimes. But here, the work we have put in with my coach on court and with Daria off the court, for sure, it just paid off, and I felt like everything is clicking.
Q. I was wondering what kind of music you were listening to when you went on court? Do you have any routine, exercises that you do to stay present, like meditation or something like that?
SWIATEK: I do meditation. I don’t think there is time on court to use it, so usually it’s just breathing or I just focus on, like, two details technically that I want to do, and it keeps me busy from thinking about other stuff or thinking about technical things that can mess up with my head. So I have and I’m using that. And music also is helpful. I usually like singing the same song in my head. Before the match I also use that to kind of get more energy. I think today was the same as usual, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.
Q. You broke a record that belonged to Chris Evert, more than 40 years old, with your only five games you lost in this tournament. What does that mean to you?
SWIATEK: Well, a lot, but on the other hand, when I was playing, I didn’t really think about that (smiling). So it’s not like I wanted to achieve that, but for sure it shows that I used my chances, all my chances that I had during this tournament to put pressure on my opponents and to break them. I am just happy that I was so efficient. And, sorry, Chris. It (the new record) is also because basically I had a bye (in the first round), and Belinda (Bencic) pulled out (their quarter-finals), so I had a little bit easier situation to do it, but I’m still proud of it, so I’m happy.
Q. Just to get back about what you said about your focus flying away a little bit, were you surprised when it happened or did you feel it coming in the offseason? Is it something that’s been happening regularly or was it more of a shock of why is it happening now?
SWIATEK: Well, on one hand, I wasn’t surprised, because I got this feeling a lot of times last season, but I was more surprised at the beginning of the season that I felt like a little bit more of anxiety and everything. I guess during the preseason I had a lot of time to kind of look back and reflect on everything, so everything kind of hit me a little bit more. But I really put in a lot of work, and Daria helped me to reset after Australia and remind myself that I don’t need all that baggage and I can just focus on other stuff which are going to help me feel more free on court. And, yeah, I wasn’t surprised, but on the other hand, it’s sometimes tricky because it’s clicking in your head and you don’t even know when it’s gonna happen. Of course I wish it wouldn’t happen at the Australian Open, but I’m happy that I’m at that state right now, and hopefully I’m going to continue doing that. But you never know. So I’m going to keep my expectations low still (smiling).
- Coached by Tomasz Wiktorowski. Previously worked with Piotr Sierzputowski
- Father is former Olympic rower Tomasz Swiatek, who competed in the men’s quadruple sculls event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul
- Last summer organised ‘Iga Swiatek and friends for Ukraine’ event in Krakow, which featured a mixed doubles match between Agnieszka Radwanska, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Polish junior Martyn Pawelski and herself, and was attended by Poland’s First Lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, Elina Svitolina and Andriy Shevchenko. The occasion was watched by almost 15,000 people live and a further one million on television, raising more than half a million Euros for Ukrainian children and teenagers affected by the war
- Started playing tennis because her older sister was playing and wanted to beat her. Enjoys rock music, including AC/DC and Pink Floyd Includes PZU, ASICS, Tecnifibre, Rolex and Xiaomi in her endorsement portfolio
- In 2022, lifted second and third Grand Slam titles, at Roland-Garros (d. Gauff in F) and US Open (d. Jabeur in F)
- Triumph in Paris was the last of six straight titles during 37-match winning streak – joint-longest unbeaten run on Tour since 1990
- Won two titles in 2021, at Adelaide and Rome. Other highlights included QF at Roland-Garros and SF at Ostrava and qualifying for WTA Finals Guadalajara (fell in group stage) Also finished doubles R-Up at 2021 RolandGarros (w/Mattek-Sands, l. Krejcikova/Siniakova)
- Won her maiden Tour-level title at 2020 Roland Garros without dropping a set, becoming the first player from Poland – man or woman – to win a Grand Slam singles title and first from her country to reach a major final since A.Radwanska at 2012 Wimbledon
- Ranked No.54, she became the lowest-ranked woman to win the Roland Garros title in the Open Era and the lowest-ranked finalist since 1977 (No.56 Mihai). At 19y 132d, is the youngest champion in Paris since Monica Seles (18y 187d) in 1992
- Also became the first player to win her debut Tour-level title at a Grand Slam since Jelena Ostapenko at 2017 Roland-Garros
- Won WTA Most Improved Player of the Year for 2020, as voted on by members of the media. Also won the 2020 WTA Fan Favorite Award
- Ended 2019 season ranked No.61 after a campaign highlighted by R-Up finish at Lugano (l. Hercog) and R16 run at Roland-Garros (l. Halep). That year also reached 3r at Toronto (l. Osaka) and made 2r five times (incl. Australian and US Open)
- Broke into Top 100 at No.88 after R-Up finish at 2019 Lugano
- Made WTA qualifying debut at 2019 Auckland
- Ended 2018 season ranked No.175 (up from No.690 in 2017), after posting 42-6 record and winning four titles on ITF Circuit
- Member of Poland’s Billie Jean King Cup team, 2018-20, 2021-22
- On professional debut, came through qualifying to win title at $10k ITF/Stockholm-SWE in 2016; owns seven singles titles at this level
- Enjoyed stellar junior career, including winning girls’ singles at 2018 Wimbledon (d. Küng in F) and leading Poland to Junior Fed Cup in 2016
