Iga Swiatek says expectation on her has risen ahead of Indian Wells - 'A target on my back'
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ByEurosport
Updated 09/03/2023 at 09:42 GMT
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek begins her bid to defend her Indian Wells title this week. Ahead of her opening match, the defending French Open and US Open champion admits she has to work on handling the greater expectation placed on her as the leading player in the WTA rankings. Swiatek is looking to win her second title of 2023 having defended her Qatar Open title in February.
Swiatek has to 'work on how to handle pressure' - Radwanska
Iga Swiatek says there is a "target on her back" ahead of Indian Wells this year and admits she is feeling more pressure heading into the tournament than in previous editions.
The Pole enjoyed a remarkable 2022 where she won a total of eight titles, including two of the four Grand Slams, and went on a 37-match winning streak. Last April she became world No. 1 following the shock retirement of Ash Barty.
Swiatek won the Qatar Open last month, but went out of the Australian Open in the last 16 and enters Indian Wells after a straight sets defeat to Barbora Krejcikova in the Dubai Tennis Championships final.
The 21-year-old believes the expectation on her to perform at a high level every week has risen.
"After Doha and Dubai, I felt it [the expectation] pretty strongly,” Swiatek said.
"Because I won a WTA 500 and was in the final of a 1000 - it was like a small streak of matches that were pretty solid and I was really composed.
"But, still, I lost in the final and people were, I don’t know, surprised, not happy with the performance, just critical.
"And it made me think that last year before this huge streak and before winning all these tournaments I would be so happy with this result. But with all these comments right now, I felt like, ‘oh, that’s not enough’."
After receiving a first-round bye, Swiatek begins her Indian Wells campaign on Friday and will play the winner of the first round match between Claire Liu and Anna Schmiedlova.
Swiatek says she needs to "adjust" to entering the WTA 1000 tournament as the heavy favourite.
"I feel like there’s a target on my back a little bit, which I didn’t feel last year," Swiatek said.
"It’s a different situation, and I have to adjust to that. So I’m trying not to read a lot of these things. I don’t want it to influence me because I’m happy with all the work I’ve done.
"This is the example of how people’s attitudes changed a little bit - and I don’t think it’s a positive change - but for me for sure there is more pressure and expectations because of that.
"But I’m trying to [cope with] that in the best way possible. I think I’m doing good.”
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