By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday March 30, 2022
Iga Swiatek has rolled through 15 matches on the trot, her streak starting in Doha before switching to Indian Wells, then Miami. That’s a lot of tennis on hard courts, in a lot of time zones, but the 20-year-old is handling all the pressure – and some fatigue – brilliantly.
After her 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Petra Kvitova on Wednesday in Miami, the soon to be World No.1 says she is trying different things to make sure she stays fresh. Swiatek said she didn’t take the court at all on Wednesday for the first time at a tournament, instead opting for rest.
“For sure I think like I think the fatigue hit me during – not during, but on a day when I played against Coco, because I had really not so much time to actually recover,” she said, referring to the fact that she played the night match on Sunday and the day session on Monday against Gauff. “But yesterday I had like total day off, and I think my team basically is managing my recovery pretty well, because they know what's best for me.
“I didn't even have to come on court yesterday, so that was a new kind of situation, because usually we do like 40 minutes on court. But this time it was different, because they knew that I needed that. I'm pretty happy that they are making the good decisions, because I feel like I can trust them.”
Swiatek: Strong Body, Strong Mind and a Ton of Confidence
Feeling rested and riding a wave of confidence, Swiatek says she is embracing her rise to No.1 and the career-best winning streak that she has built.
“My body feels great,” Swiatek said. “I want to see where my limit is and also how it's going to cope. I always felt pretty confident with my body.”
15 matches can build a lot of confidence and Swiatek is feeling her game. “My mental game also is on point, because I feel like I'm using this streak, and it's not like something that is pushing me down,” she said.
I want to be the Strongest
We’ve seen some amazing footwork and flexibility from Swiatek. The Pole is taking a page from Agnieszka Radwanska’s playbook and getting her hips down below her knees when she strikes ground strokes often.
She says it is a product of her fitness regimen, but adds that she isn’t exactly sure how she’s able to do what she does.
A reporter asked Swiatek the following question: I have been admiring all tournament how low you get to the ground when you're hitting some of those balls. Is it core stability, hip mobility? What do you work on to get that low?
This was her reply:
“I don't know. Usually I just do the exercises that they tell me to do, so honestly, I don't know the details. I'm not an expert,” she said.
But basically I think it's – yeah, I mean, probably we are working on everything honestly. Yeah, I like doing conditioning and all the fitness stuff, so basically it was always important for me to be physically able to be stronger than my opponents. Right now it became kind of obvious that I'm gonna be, you know, strong and I'm gonna run to everything. Yeah, when I was younger, I had to force myself to do that, but I got used to it. Right now I feel like, yeah, pretty confident it's giving me a lot of skills. It's great.”