TENNIS – Iga Swiatek: “The attention received for being number 1 in the world is surreal, it overwhelmed me”

his words

“In the beginning it was a bit like you had to pinch me, it was a bit surreal and it overwhelmed me. But it happened during the Miami Open and I still had to focus on my tennis and the next game, that helped me to stay the same kind of player that I was even before I became number 1 in the world. There were a lot of emotions, but I had to postpone them until after the tournament to stay focused and play well. I received a lot of messages. My phone, for three days, was like my birthday with messages from everywhere.

Many people congratulated me. Ash Barty for example. She was one of the first people to text me. Too many players on the site [a Miami]so that was very nice. Rafa Nadal also sent me a message and many people on Instagram or Twitter. I can’t even remember everyone.”

The importance of the mental coach

“When I started working with Daria in 2019, my main goal was to improve things on the pitch. To be more focused, to control my emotions. But then she moved on to talk more about my personal life, working on my confidence as a person and growing. , facing the popularity, or the commercial side of the sport. I feel like we’ve worked on everything. Since the big thing happened, when I won at Roland Garros [nel 2020]I didn’t have time to relax. She felt that she always needed to pursue something. Get ready for the next season. The great expectations. I won in Rome [nel 2021], then again great expectations for Roland Garros and so on. And now that I’m number 1, everything doubles. We work a lot with Daria. She is really helpful. My team needs to take care of me. My coach takes care of my tennis, my physical therapist takes care of my body, but I also need someone who is there for me when I want and need to talk. I want to have fun, play well, do my best.”