By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday January 27, 2022
No regrets: That was the prevailing sentiment held by Poland’s Iga Swiatek after she dropped her semifinal to Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday night in Melbourne.
The 2020 Roland-Garros champion says that there wasn’t a lot she felt she could do against Collins’ all-out barrage of first-strike tennis.
“Today's result, you know, for sure I'm not happy with it, but I know that Danielle played amazing tennis, and if I would have more chances to just play a rally with her, it would be much easier,” she said. “But for sure she was winning in serves and on returns."
Swiatek was only able to win three of 21 second-serve points, and was basically denied the chance to extend rallies as Collins' aggressive tactics held sway. 76 of the 103 points in the match lasted four or less strokes, with Collins winning 51 of them.
“It's kind of hard to stop an opponent when they are playing like that,” Swiatek said. "I mean, I wasn't thinking like that on the court, but after, I mean, I'm not even feeling any regrets because I did like the best I could today.”
Swiatek admitted that she had never encountered anything like the maelstrom of high-risk shots that the American produces, and said she’s curious to watch and see how the 28-year-old fares against World No.1 Ash Barty in the final. The Pole says she’ll be watching – out of curiosity and to learn.
“I was prepared for her playing aggressive game, but I think that was the fastest ball I have ever played against on a match,” she said. “For sure in practices I have hit, I mean, maybe the same speed, but on matches it's different because players, they don't want to, you know, take that much risk. But it seemed for her that it wasn't even risky because she was playing it with control.
“So I am impressed and huge respect to her because she's playing a great game. I'm just curious how it's gonna look like on the final, and I'm gonna for sure be watching and, you know, learning.”