Iga Switek believes the key to maintaining her position at the top of women’s tennis is to move her focus away from what has been a stellar 2022 season.
Over the past 12 months, the Pole has risen to the top of the WTA rankings and has held that position since April. This year she has won eight Tour titles, including the French Open and US Open. Overall, she has won 67 out of 78 Tour matches played and boasted an impressive 15-2 winning record against top-10 opposition.
Hoping to continue her dominance into 2023, the 21-year-old says she plans to start with a new slate. Her focus very much being on the future and not her past achievements. She is currently more than 6000 points ahead of her nearest rival in the WTA rankings which is Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.
“I’m going to try to kind of cut off everything that happened last year and just focus on the future, because I feel like I can take a lot of experience from these tournaments last year,” Swiatek told reporters on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to really like hold on to that too much, because I want to go forward and kind of focus on my next goals.”
Swiatek heads the Polish team at the United Cup which also features men’s world No.10 Hubert Hurkacz. Captained by former player Agnieszka Radwanska, the last Polish woman to contest a major final before Swiatek, Poland will play Switzerland and Kazakhstan in the group stages.
During her time in Australia, the three-time Grand Slam champion hopes she will be able to meet Ash Barty who she credits for inspiring her to elevate her own game. Barty, who is the reigning Australian Open champion, retired from the sport earlier this year at the age of 25.
“When Ash retired, I felt mixed emotions because I felt like she still had the best tennis out there,” said Swiatek.
“Maybe this week we are going to be able to meet and I’m going to say it straight to her.
“She really inspired me to work harder and her different game-style made me realise that there is always room for improvement.”
It was Barty’s retirement that paved the way for Swiatek to cinch the No.1 spot. Initially, she questioned her position as the best in the world before going on to produce a series of impressive results.
“At first I felt like I wasn’t sure if this is kind of my place to be,” she said.
“Ash seemed like a huge role model for everybody in terms of her behaviour on court but also off court. She really set the bar pretty high, so I need to show it to people, but also show it to myself, that I’m in the right place.
“I feel like a huge satisfaction, because I have been working my whole life to get to this point. I didn’t really think it’s possible for me.”
Swiatek’s first match at the United Cup is scheduled to be against Yania Putinseva on Saturday.
