‘I felt that i did not want to lose…’ – Iga Swiatek reacts after her shocking round of 16 exit in the Australian Open
Iga Swiatek came into the Australian Open 2023 as a strong favourite in the tournament, but she was no match for Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina at the Rod Laver Arena. The top seed went down in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to the star Kazakhstani player. She said she felt the pressure and needed to cool off or “chill” after she crashed out in the last 16 on Sunday.
The Polish starlet said that she could not bear the burden of expectation. She could not get her fourth major. If she would have won this year’s Australian Open, it would have been her first title in Melbourne. Eventually, it did not materialise. “Well, for sure, the past two weeks have been pretty hard for me,” a shaken Swiatek told the media.
“I felt today that I don’t have that much left to fight even more,” she said.”I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments, and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard. “So I’m going to try to chill out a little bit more.” Rybakina got the better of Swiatek with her power game and will face Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-final.
I have to change my mindset and fight a little bit more: Iga Swiatek
Swiatek made her name reverberate in women’s tennis in 2022. After Ashleigh Barty called in quits at last year’s Australian Open in 2022, Swiatek became the world no. 1 and was on a 37-match unbeaten streak. She was undoubtedly a favourite to win the Australian Open after her glory in the 2022 US Open.
“I felt the pressure,” Swiatek confessed. “I felt that I didn’t want to lose instead of wanting to win.” Rybakina, with her 6-foot tall frame, proved to be a very able match for Swiatek. She used her serve to her advantage. “Elena was the one that was more solid today and I felt like it was more about who is going to put more pressure on, and she did that pretty well.”
Rybakina sent down six aces and Swiatek could manage only two. She fired home 24 winners and Swiatek could manage only 15. She served, you know, as she does usually,” said Swiatek. “I wanted to put it back on her, but on my service games I felt like I need to just work really, really hard to get any point because my first serve wasn’t working.”
She said she wanted to play Tennis as she did in 2022. “For sure I need to work on my mindset and fight a little bit more, as I did last season,” She opined. “I’m going to take time right now to kind of reset.” She added.
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