Iga Swiatek’s latest comments may not go down well with Cincinnati Open bosses as she returns to regular competition after winning an Olympic bronze medal.
The world No. 1 is back on hard courts for her all-important preparation ahead of the US Open.
But ahead of the tournament, Swiatek claimed that she would treat Cincinnati as a “practice” despite it being one of the biggest events on the WTA Tour circuit.
The 23-year-old has had little time to rest after a draining Olympic Games. She suffered “heartbreak” after losing in the semi-final, missing out on the gold medal match, and walked away from a TV interview in tears.
Less than 24 hours later, she returned for the bronze playoff and won her first medal. It was a rollercoaster of emotions for Swiatek, who admitted it would still take a few days for her to get over the semi-final loss. And just over a week later, she’s back in action at the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati.
It’s her first and last chance to get some hard-court matches ahead of the US Open. But Swiatek admitted that the week would be more of a training session than a tournament for her. “I know that the first tournament on hard court is not going to be easy,” she said.
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.”
The tennis calendar is already a demanding one but with the Olympics taking place this year, it’s been even tougher on the players. Swiatek and co have gone straight from grass to clay, and now to hard. And the five-time Grand Slam champion needs time to adjust.
Swiatek added: “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.
Although she wants to take it easy this week, the top seed knows that the Cincinnati Open is important. “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,” she continued.
“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.”
