Iga Swiatek under 'more pressure' to maintain dominance ahead of 'unpredictable' US Open says John McEnroe
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ByEurosport
Updated 23/08/2023 at 07:33 GMT
John McEnroe believes Iga Swiatek is under more pressure to maintain her dominance as the No. 1 player in the women's game. American pair Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have both beaten the Pole in recent weeks. Ahead of the US Open, which gets underway this month, McEnroe believes this year's Grand Slam is going to be "unpredictable" with Swiatek set to face intense competition.
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John McEnroe believes there is now more pressure on Iga Swiatek ahead of an "unpredictable" US Open.
The world No. 1 is currently the defending champion, but she goes into this year's tournament off the back of surprise defeats to Coco Gauff in Cincinnati and Jessica Pegula in Montreal the week before.
McEnroe thinks Swiatek is doing a "great job" with maintaining her overall consistency to remain as the No. 1 player in the sport, but believes there is greater expectation on her going into Flushing Meadows.
"The dominance is extremely hard to keep up obviously," the Eurosport expert told members of the media.
"You saw three male players share everything. Rafa, Novak and Roger. This whole situation was unusual from the beginning because Ash Barty retired and all of a sudden Swiatek was anointed No. 1.
"She did an incredible job for a while and then she proved she could win on hard court surfaces. Now obviously there is a lot more expected and more pressure. For the most part she's done a great job. The fact that she is No. 1 obviously with other players it would be a huge win to beat her.
"People in the America are hoping that players like Pegula, very consistent, and Gauff, she's got incredible upside, that was the first time that she had even won a set off her in eight or nine times.
"I think the court from what I heard was playing pretty quick [in Cincinnati]. I'm not exactly sure what it's going to be at the US Open.
"If it's slower the court would help her a little bit. If it's faster it would probably help some of the other players a little more. That remains to be seen but I think overall she's doing a great job."
World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka is expected to be one of Swiatek's main challengers for the Grand Slam title in New York. She went out of Montreal Masters at the last-16 stage and Cincinnati in the semi-finals as she builds up her preparations for the Slam.
McEnroe thinks both her and Swiatek will be feeling the pressure with hopes on finishing as world No. 1 by the end of 2023.
"Sabalenka came through and won her first major [2023 Australian Open] so she's more confident than ever," he said.
"But it's still pretty unpredictable what is going to happen. Some of it is going to depend on the draw and see what plays out. Both players will feel that pressure to finish that tournament and year as No. 1 so this tournament could determine the No.1 ranking which is exciting for the sport."
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