By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday November 16, 2021
Iga Swiatek’s 2021 season came to a close on Monday with a smile and a victory. The Pole defeated Paula Badosa for her first career Top-10 hard court win and will head into the off-season with some positive vibrations.
In truth, there are a lot of reasons for Swiatek to feel good. She reached the second week of all four majors in 2021, won two titles, including a blockbuster triump at Rome, and will finish the year in the Top-10 after a trip the WTA Finals, where she made her debut and went 1-2.
The 20-year-old is looking forward to some rest and relaxation after a long season, but she’s already thinking about how she can be better in 2022.
We asked the Pole where she sees herself at this time next year and she seemed pretty sure of one thing – she wants to be more self-assured.
“This time next year? Well, I would love to be as a player more, like, settled in everything, not going from being super confident to, “Hey, I'm new here, I don't really know what to do.’ Just trust myself a little bit more,” she said. “I would love myself to be more efficient and more chilled out, just remember that tennis is not everything, kind of have more distance to everything.”
We also asked Swiatek what she felt were the biggest lessons learned in 2021.
She said she wants to change her “attitude.”
“There is so much I learned,” she said. “I mean, for sure I'm just going to talk about what I want to change maybe. I want me being on tour being, like, less energy-consuming so I can be more efficient, also have the power to be on the highest level for, I don't know, few years. I'm going to try to, like, change my attitude a little bit.”
Swiatek, who finishes 36-15 on the season, will turn 21 next May during Roland-Garros. She says she would like to add a bit of variety to her game next season, in order to be a more puzzling opponent for her peers.
“Variety on court would be important for me,” she said. “For sure we're going to work hard for me to, like, have more options on court, also being able to adjust more to the situation that I have on the match.
“I've lost few matches this year when I thought my opponent did something differently, then suddenly started winning. I want to also, like, be able to confuse my opponents.”