Iga Swiatek's thanks to Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff's plan to bounce back from loss - WTA Finals Diary
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Updated 02/11/2022 at 07:39 GMT
In her latest WTA Finals diary, Reem Abulleil reveals why Iga Swiatek is thanking Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff's hopes of bouncing back from her opening loss. World No. 1 Swiatek started her campaign with a win over Daria Kasatkina in Fort Worth, Texas, while Gauff was beaten by Caroline Garcia. The first-time qualifiers at the tournament are now 0-4 after their opening matches.
Swiatek left 'confused' and 'disappointed' by Halep's failed drugs test
Technique over trophies
Iga Swiatek is one of many players that rely on visualisation techniques to help them perform better on court and get themselves in the right headspace.
From a young age, Novak Djokovic made fake Wimbledon trophies and visualised himself winning the tournament one day. Last summer, Ons Jabeur had the picture of the Wimbledon trophy as the lock screen on her phone and she came agonisingly close to winning the tournament, falling just short in the final.
Swiatek is a big fan of visualisation but she doesn’t necessarily do it every day.
“I forgot to do that, usually I’m using visualisation when I feel my technique is a little bit off, but today that wasn’t the case,” she revealed on court following her straight-sets win over Daria Kasatkina in Fort Worth on Tuesday.
“I’m not the kind of person that visualises myself with trophies, I don’t think it’s going to lead anywhere. So usually it’s a technique and perfect preparation for the shot.”
‘Thank you, Ons’
Swiatek has no revenge plans against Jabeur after the Tunisian pulled a prank on her and spooked her on Halloween.
Instead, the world No.1 thanked Jabeur for “raising her adrenaline” and hopes it helps her during the WTA Finals this week.
“I get scared easily, it’s not like I was thinking, it was all adrenaline, you know. I realised I’m not that kind of person that’s going to fight back, I’m more of a runner, maybe not on court, but for sure when I get scared,” Swiatek said on The Tennis Channel set in Fort Worth following her 6-2, 6-3 opening win over Daria Kasatkina on Tuesday.
“So thank you Ons for getting my adrenaline up, maybe it’s going to help me for the tournament. I’m not going to do the same, because I’m not that kind of person who is like scaring people, but I really like the other outfits that we had. There was a koala, there was T-Rex, I would totally be a koala, I would just hug everybody.”
With a 65-8 win-loss record this season, Swiatek surely is more of a T-Rex than a koala, no?
Experience matters
When it comes to the WTA Finals, the unique format of the competition – with two round-robin groups – and the exclusively top-eight field can make things tricky for first-time qualifiers for the event.
In the first two days of the tournament here in Fort Worth, first-time qualifiers Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Daria Kasatkina and Coco Gauff went 0-4 in singles, losing to opponents who have all had previous experience at the WTA Finals.
Coco banking on doubles experience
She’s the youngest player to compete in both singles and doubles at the WTA Finals since Anna Kournikova in 1999, and is the youngest singles qualifier at the event since Maria Sharapova in 2005, but Gauff has a few tricks up her sleeve to deal with her opening defeat to Caroline Garcia.
The 18-year-old American, who also lost her doubles opener alongside Jessica Pegula, believes her experience playing singles and doubles all year will come in handy when it comes to rebounding from her loss to Garcia ahead of her second round-robin clash against Kasatkina on Thursday.
“It’s something I’ve learned to bounce back, mainly because of doubles, a lot of times you’re playing matches after you’ve lost or won, or vice versa, you lose a doubles match and the next day you have to play singles. Whether it’s singles or doubles, I take the losses pretty hard,” explained Gauff.
“So I would say I think I have a little bit more experience from it because of doubles. I don’t know how I’ll be, first time losing a singles match and having to play again two days later, or the same tournament. But I think I’m pretty positive from this, it’s the only way I can take it if I want to do well in the next two.”
Stats of the day
- Following her win over Kasatkina on Tuesday, Swiatek owns a tour-leading 13 top-10 victories this season, against just one loss. That sole defeat came against Ashleigh Barty in Adelaide last January.
- Swiatek is now the first player to win 13+ matches against a top-10 player in a single year since Caroline Wozniacki in 2017 (14).
- The 21-year-old Swiatek is the third player to win 13+ consecutive matches against a top-10 opponent in a single season in the 2000s after Justine Henin (15 in 2007) and Venus Williams (14 in 2001).
- Swiatek is now 5-0 against Kasatkina this season.
- Caroline Garcia is now the tour’s joint leader in aces this season with 370 struck through 59 matches.
- With her straight-sets victory over Gauff on Tuesday, Garcia has now won 33 WTA matches since June, at least 10 more than any other player over this span.
Quote of the day
“I’m going to go shopping and I’m going to look like a cowboy.”
- Swiatek reveals her plans when the WTA Finals tournament is over.
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