Iga Swiatek has described the tennis calendar as “probably the toughest one in sports” and declared it is “scary” that the schedule is “getting more crazy every year.”
The world No 1 also discussed the need to reset after a “pretty stressful” Paris Olympics experience and outlined her plan to treat the Cincinnati Open as a “practice tournament.”
Swiatek was the strong favourite to win the women’s singles gold medal at the 2024 Games, with the tennis event staged on the clay at Stade Roland Garros — where she has won four French Open titles.
JUST IN: Jannik Sinner makes ‘struggle’ confession ahead of Cincinnati Open
The Polish star suffered heartbreak in the semi-finals as she fell to a 2-6, 5-7 loss to world No 7 and eventual gold medallist Zheng Qinwen.
The 23-year-old bounced back from the disappointment admirably to defeat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 in the bronze medal match.
Swiatek will play her first tournament since the Olympics at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati after she missed the Canadian Open in Toronto.
In her pre-tournament press conference, Swiatek brought attention to the relentless tennis schedule and expressed concern it is getting more challenging each season.
“Our calendar is crazy, probably the toughest one in sports,” said the Pole.
“There are sports that are really tough because, physically, you might get beat up. But most sports have four months off, sometimes even six. Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely.”
The five-time Grand Slam champion also reflected on her Olympics campaign and highlighted the importance of resetting.
“It was pretty stressful and it wasn’t easy,” Swiatek explained.
“But I’m happy that I could leave Paris with a medal and with a lot of knowledge about myself. The most important thing for me was to learn from this experience.
“I was proud of myself and I was happy that I could deal with all this pressure and still get a medal. It wasn’t like a normal tournament, for sure.
“I literally felt after the Olympics that I need to kind of reset and also just focus on getting my technique back together and just grinding on court.
“Here is the perfect place to do it. It feels a little bit less crazy, but on the other hand, even before the tournament, there are many people and a lot of fans. So you still feel that it’s an important tournament anyway.”
Swiatek then looked ahead to her campaign in Cincinnati, where she is looking to win a first title.
“I know that the first tournament on hard court is not going to be easy,” she added.
“So I’m going to try to treat it as a practice tournament, but not in a way that I don’t care – more in a way that I want to implement all the stuff that I practised on. I think it’s the best approach for me now. We’re taking it easy, doing everything step by step.
“For sure, it’s not going to be perfect from the beginning but I had a couple days to really get used to the surface, so I’m trying to do the best job possible every day and entering the court next day knowing I can do something better.”
Swiatek will face Ajla Tomljanovic or Varvara Gracheva in her opening match in Cincinnati. She reached the semi-finals in 2023, which is her best result at the WTA 1000 tournament to date.
