Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek is not getting too ahead of herself after winning her opening round at the Australian Open.
The 19 year-old Pole came through in her first round as she defeated Arantxa Rus, 6-1 6-3 in a dominant 1 hour and 18 minute performance.
It now means Swiatek has only dropped 32 games in her last eight grand slam matches after her dominant maiden slam win in Paris in October.
In her press conference, Swiatek admitted that she tends to play better at the grand slams, “Well, I don’t know how that happens but I always play
better on Grand Slams,” the Pole said on Monday.
“Maybe it’s, I don’t know, preparation, maybe it’s just the perfect time for me to play. Yeah, my goal is to be consistent, so I want to play good on basically every tournament. For me I’m really happy I play efficient on Grand Slam.
“I’m going to be working on that still. Maybe that’s going to change in a few months or years. But right now I’m happy that I can play good tennis.”
Despite Swiatek’s slam form the 19 year-old still knows that managing expectations is important, “I saw finally what I can do, and somehow in the back of my mind I expect to play always like that, but it’s impossible,” Swiatek explained.
“It’s about managing expectations. Usually thinking about French Open isn’t, like, really good for me. I try to treat every tournament as a different story and I think it’s good.”
Iga will look to continue to manage her expectations as she takes on the big-serving and erratic Camila Giorgi on Wednesday.
If all goes to plan then Swiatek’s route to the quarter-finals could be a third round with Elena Rybakina before facing Simona Halep in a Roland Garros rematch.
