Iga Swiatek talks Australian Open preparation and not taking 1st round opponent lightly

MELBOURNE, Australia -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek confirmed she is fit and ready to go for the first Slam of the season at the Australian Open.

The Polish star is set to get under tournament underway on Monday, kicking off the night session on Rod Laver Arena. She will face a familiar foe in Germany's Jule Niemeier. Ranked No.68, Niemeier is coming off the biggest season of her career, where she made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

The last time the two faced off, Niemeier came within a set of derailing Swiatek's title run at the US Open. In the Round of 16, Swiatek rallied from a set down to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.

"You saw how intense that match was, how tough," Swiatek told reporters at Media Day on Saturday. "It's not going to be easy. But on the other hand, any match at a Grand Slam is always more intense and more stressful than other tournaments. I'll be ready for it.

"It's nice also that we played not so long ago, so I can take a lot from that match. Now I know how her ball feels on the racquet. But she has the same.

"So we'll see."

Don't expect to see a brand-new Swiatek on the court on Monday. Team Swiatek spent the pre-season working on fine-tuning her game rather than complicating it. Coming off her sparkling 2022 season, which saw her engineer a century-best 37-match win streak and win two of the four Slams, Swiatek's philosophy as she starts her year is simple: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

"I would say the differences are going to be smaller," Swiatek said. "I think it's normal because when you get to the point where your ball is pretty fast, it's not like you can make it even faster because you're going to kind of lose control. There are kind of limits in terms of that.

"For me, it's all about staying kind of solid and actually not changing a lot. It worked, so why would I change a lot?"

"[If you look at] the greatest players that are consistent throughout their whole careers, it's not like Novak changed a lot in his game since a few years ago. I think it matters to be able to just be consistent with the best game you have."

Swiatek faces Niemeier at 7:00 p.m. on Monday night. The winner will face either Panna Udvardy or Camila Osorio in the second round.

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Australian Open Draw: Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur top the field

MELBOURNE, Australia -- The draw for the season's first Grand Slam has been revealed at the 2023 Australian Open. The ceremony was conducted on Thursday afternoon at Melbourne Park.

For the complete draw, click here.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek returns to Melbourne Park after posting her best result last year when she made her first hard-court Slam semifinal. The next highest seed in Swiatek's top quarter is No.7 Coco Gauff, and the two could face in the quarterfinals. Gauff kicked off her season by winning all ten sets she played in Auckland to win the ASB Classic.

The second quarter sees No.3 Jessica Pegula and No.6 Maria Sakkari. Pegula comes into her most successful Slam full of confidence after leading Team USA to the inaugural United Cup title. A quarterfinalist in Melbourne in her past two appearances, Pegula went 4-1 at United Cup to open her year, including a stunning straight-sets win over No.1 Swiatek.

Landing in the bottom half of the draw are No.2 Ons Jabeur, No.4 Caroline Garcia, No.5 Aryna Sabalenka and No.8 Daria Kasatkina. Jabeur was unable to play the Australian Open last year due to injury. Despite nursing a back injury in Adelaide 1, the Tunisian has made the final at her previous two Slam appearances and remains an all-surface threat.

Jabeur could face a confident Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka opened her season by ending a 19-month title drought, dominating the field to win her 11th career title at Adelaide 1.

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Iga Swiatek named Poland's athlete of 2022

She was the WTA's standard-bearer in 2022, and now she's been named Poland's best athlete. Iga Swiatek was named the Polish Sports Personality of the Year on Saturday, the first tennis player to win the award since 1937.

Jadwiga Jedrzejowska, Poland's best player prior to the advent of Open Era tennis in 1968, won the award in 1936 and 1937.

Swiatek beat out soccer star Robert Lewandowski and her fellow tennis player, Hubert Hurkacz, among others, to win the award. Lewandowski, in fact, nominated her for the honor, and Swiatek admitted after her season-ending semifinal defeat to Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals Forth Worth that this year's ballot was on her mind.

“Two years ago, I made it to the second place. Lewandoski was first," she said. "This year, I'm pretty curious what's gonna happen!"

Unable to attend the gala in person, Swiatek credited the support she received in her history-making 2022 season in a scenic social media post from an Australian beach where she acknowledged in the award.

After helping Poland reach the semifinals of the United Cup, Swiatek withdrew from this week's Adelaide International 2 with a right shoulder injury. She'll be the top seed at the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 16. 

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Iga Swiatek & Hubert Hurkacz clinch semi final birth for Poland at United Cup

 

In a decisive fifth rubber Wednesday, Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz quickly took out Italy's Camilla Rosatello and Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 6-2 to send Poland into the United Cup semifinals, where the team will face the United States.


Earlier, Magda Linette delivered a must-win point to keep Poland in the tie. Twenty-four hours after clinching her country's win over Switzerland, Linette played a focused, disciplined match to defeat Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour and 12 minutes.


The triumph was critical after top-ranked Iga Swiatek gave Poland an initial lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Martina Trevisan, before Italy's Matteo Berrettini 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory versus Hurkacz evened the tie at one match each.

The only impediment to Swiatek and Hurkacz's performance was the rain. There is a roof on Pat Rafter Arena, but there were two short delays early in the second set when sideways rain made its way onto the court.

During those breaks, Italy's No. 1 men's singles Berrettini and captain Vincenzo Santopadre urged their team on, providing motivation and tactical advice. But it was not enough as Hurkacz and Swiatek cruised in 65 minutes.

For Swiatek, she played a sharp opening set in singles to roll to in just 34 minutes. Landing 90% of her first serves, Swiatek kept Trevisan at bay and broke the Italian on each of her two break-point chances.

Trevisan tightened up the match in the second set, as Swiatek's level also took a dip. The first five games of the second set lasted longer than the entirety of the first, as the Italian grew in confidence with each Swiatek miss. Swiatek hit just nine unforced errors in the first set but fired 23 in the second.

"It was stressful," Swiatek said. "I feel Martina was really changing the rhythm well. At the end, I tried to be really solid."

Trevisan kept the pressure on Swiatek until the very end. Serving for the win at 5-4, Swiatek was forced to save three break points at 15-40, the last wiped out by a clutch ace. On her first match point, Swiatek dug in to outrally Trevisan and close out the 1-hour and 51-minute match.

"It became tight in the end and Martina really used her chances well," Swiatek said. "She could really give it all because I was the one that was leading. I'm happy that even though Martina came back in the second set, I was able to finish it."

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Iga Swiatek & Hubert Hurkacz get to know each other at United Cup

 

Iga Swiatek continues to garner points for Poland at United Cup with win over Bencic

World No.1 Iga Swiatek edged No.12 Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-6(3) on Monday at United Cup to give Poland an early 1-0 lead over Switzerland. But Marc-Andrea Huesler quickly struck back to level the tie at 1-1.

The winner of the tie will advance to the Brisbane City Final to face either Italy or Brazil out of Group E.

Coming off a 6-1, 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva, Swiatek unleashed her baseline dominance to earn her second career win over Bencic. Swiatek came out with a clear eye toward holding her position on the baseline and dominating with her forehand and court coverage, and the 21-year-old executed her plan to near-perfection.

"I'm a perfectionist," she said, "but I'm really happy with my performance today because Belinda is playing really fast, taking the ball really early, so it's a totally different rhythm. On this fast surface it's really, really hard."

Swiatek earned her first break of the match in the fourth game to earn a 3-1 lead, but Bencic quickly adjusted her return position to get the break back three games later. But the most dominant returner in the women's game proved her worth immediately, breaking Bencic to 5-3 and holding serve to close out an entertaining 41-minute set.

Swiatek maintained her focus early in the second set, earning an early break to build a 3-1 lead. But Bencic's improved composure kept her dialed in. She withstood Swiatek's return pressure, to stay within a break, and broke the Pole as she served for the match at 5-4 by amplifying her aggression on return. But after a shaky pair of games, Swiatek found her level again to power through the tiebreak and seal the win.

"I got my energy up for the tiebreaker," Swiatek said. "It was stressful as hell, the first tiebreak of the season, but I'm pretty happy that I made it."

The tie continues Tuesday with Hubert Hurkacz set to face Stan Wawrinka and Magda Linette to face Jil Teichmann.

Huesler needed only 1 hour and 13 minutes to beat No.260 Michalski. The lefty used his serve to great effect, going through the match without facing a break point while converting all three break points he earned.

Last year's Sofia Open champion is now 2-0 at the United Cup, having defeated Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov in three sets in his opening match.

The tie continues on Tuesday with Hubert Hurkacz set to face Stan Wawrinka in the No. 1 men's singles match and Magda Linette to face Jil Teichmann in the No. 2 women's singles match, followed by a potentially deciding mixed doubles match.

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Iga Swiatek dazzles in mixed doubles with Hurkacz clinches another win for Poland at United Cup

Iga Swiatek hit a jaw-dropping sliding hot shot during her mixed doubles match with Hubert Hurkacz on Day 4 at the United Cup in Brisbane.

Did the World No.1 wrap up 2023's Shot of the Year on Jan. 1? Possibly.

After posting her first win of the season on Day 3 of the United Cup, Iga Swiatek retook the court on Day 4 for mixed doubles. With wins by Swiatek, Hubert Hurkacz and Magda Linette, Poland secured its win over Kazakhstan, rendering the mixed doubles match a dead rubber.

But in a clear sign that Team Poland has its eyes on the United Cup trophy, Captains Dawid Celt and Agnieszka Radwanska delivered their top pairing of Swiatek and Hurkacz to take on Zhebik Kulambayeva and Gregoriy Lomakin.

It didn't take long for Swiatek and Hurkacz to show their quality as a team, as evidenced by Swiatek's incredible point in the sixth game. With Kazakhstan looking to avoid the rangy Hurkacz at the net, Swiatek took every ball from the baseline until Lomakin hit a drop volley that should have been a winner.

Not against Swiatek.

She burst of speed put her on the ball in a flash and the self-professed math geek found the only angle that would yield a winner, going around the net post with a sliding backhand slice:

https://twitter.com/UnitedCupTennis/status/1609526427388641281?s=20&t=g0EHdUi0CJx9NDUT3fTiPA

Swiatek and Hurkacz won the match 6-3, 6-4.

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