Inside Iga Swiatek's creative endurance training regimen

MONTREAL, Canada -- Iga Swiatek had a unique practice session ahead of her tournament debut at this week's Omnium Banque Nationale. Fresh off her victory on home soil at the BNP Paribas Warsaw Open, where she captured her tour-leading fourth tournament of the season, she discussed one of her more creative training techniques.

In the days leading up to the tournament, the World No.1 player was spotted on the practice courts with a piece of tape over her mouth. Devised by her fitness coach, Maciej Ryszczuk, the unorthodox exercise helps to restrict Swiatek's oxygen intake to improve endurance.

"It's harder to breathe when you're only breathing with your nose, and it's easier for my heart rate to go up," Swiatek told reporters during Media Day. "I'm not going to explain it to you perfectly because I'm not an expert. Sometimes I don't get the things they tell me to do, but I'm doing that for a long time now so it got pretty easy.

"But for sure you can see the difference in how everything you do on the court is getting more and more hard with that tape on your mouth. So I guess it's the way to kind of work on my endurance by not having me run so fast and do extreme things."

You can add "the tape method" to the unique list of Team Swiatek's preparation. She remains the only player to travel with a full-time sports psychologist. Her team uses medical instruments to measure her brain and heart activity for stress indicators. Then there are the puzzles and mini-games that test the 22-year-old's cognitive speed.

After a bye in the first round, Swiatek will face Karolina Pliskova in the second round in Montreal. A potential rematch of the French Open final against Karolina Muchova could take place in the Round of 16.

Last year, Swiatek came into the US Open Series with more insecurities about the state of her game. After going unbeaten over 37 matches, Swiatek took two losses, at Wimbledon and in Warsaw.

"I remember for sure I had some technical struggles that I focused more in terms of where I wanted to improve, but I was kind of stuck with a few shots that I didn't like," Swiatek said. "This year I don't have that. I feel more confident."

Swiatek has fewer points to defend over the next two weeks -- with losses in the Round of 16 in Canada and Cincinnati a year ago -- than in recent events. But her title defense at the US Open is just around the corner. A win there would give her four successful title defenses this year.

"I think playing Warsaw on hard court changed a lot the perspective because last year, switching from grass to clay and then to hard court was really tricky," Swiatek said. "This year, I feel like it's a really nice process without any extra obstacles. So it was pretty easy for me to just focus on work.

"I think it's great before the whole swing and before the US Open."

This will be Swiatek's first-ever appearance in Montreal, but Canada holds a special place in her heart. When the tournament was staged in Toronto in 2019, Swiatek was a qualifier who stunned Caroline Wozniacki in three sets before playing a memorable duel with Naomi Osaka. Swiatek recalled the matches fondly. It was when she found the belief she could hang with the best.

"When we played in Toronto, it was a kind of a breakthrough match for me because I realized that I can win those matches against the best players, the really experienced players. And I remember it was important for me because I lost the first set, 6-0 and then I came back. I was able to shake off all the stress and just focused on the game."

On the topic of Wozniacki, Swiatek says she's excited to see what the Dane can do in her comeback to competition.

"Even though she is not representing Poland, we all know that she speaks fluently, her parents are Polish," Swiatke said. "So she was one of these people that showed me that it's possible, besides, Aga Radwanska obviously.

"It's great that she wants to still see what she's capable of and to still challenge herself. I just have a huge respect for what she has done before. It's nice for me to see that as a player, even though she's satisfied with her career, she still wants to come back and challenge herself. I don't know if I would have the strength for that.

"So I'm just going to cheer for her. It's been pretty exciting."

wtatennis.com 

Iga Swiatek first Polish player to win in Poland at Warsaw Open

World No.1 Iga Swiatek soared to her fourth title of the season Sunday with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Laura Siegemund in the final of the BNP Paribas Warsaw Open, her home tournament.


Swiatek picked up her 15th career title with the victory, adding to triumphs this year in Doha, Stuttgart and Roland Garros, and didn't lost a set over the course of the tournament.


"I want to thank my team and my family. It's not easy to play in Warsaw, but I'm so happy that we could manage and do everything we could today, after a pretty tiring day yesterday," Swiatek said.

"I wanted to put it all in and go for it. I'm pretty happy that I did."

Before taking the court against Siegemund, Swiatek finished off her semifinal against Yanina Wickmayer, 6-1, 7-6(6). The match was suspended on Saturday night due to darkness at 6-1, 5-5 -- after Swiatek led 5-2 and had three match points at 5-3 in the second set. Upon resumption, she was two points away from being pushed to a third set at 30-30 and deuce serving down 6-5, and needed three more match points in the tiebreak after nearly losing a 5-1 lead to seal victory.

But there was no such trouble against Siegemund in a championship match that lasted just 68 minutes. She broke Siegemund five times and never faced a break point to improve to 2-0 against the German all-time.

Siegemund, playing her first final since winning the 2017 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, upset No.4 seed Zhu Lin in the second round and spent more than six hours on court Saturday in winning her quarterfinal and semifinal matches against Lucrezia Stefanini and Tatjana Maria, which were played back-to-back as a result of rain earlier in the week.

"I'm sorry I couldn't put up more of a battle today, but it was a little bit too much yesterday," Siegemund said. "I tried my best, but the legs, they stayed at the hotel today.

"But for me, it was really a great success anyway ... it was almost a win for me to be a final at all. It's been a long time. On such a great stage with such great spectators. ... I just enjoyed it."

Swiatek was equally complimentary of Siegemund's effort for the week. The World No.153 is projected to rise more than 40 places in Monday's rankings.

"Laura, what you did yesterday was pretty surreal," Swiatek said. I don't know if anyone would be able to survive that, but you did. Congratulations for this run, because it's been a pretty great week, and it's nice that we could play this final."

wtatennis.com

15 - Among players who started their career in the Open Era, only Elina Svitolina (18) has won 15 WTA titles in fewer finals played than Iga Swiatek (19). Speedy.


87 - Iga Swiatek is 87-13 after her first 100 matches as the #1 in the world - the exact same record of the last player able to reach the mark of 100 WTA matches as #1, Serena Williams. Duo.

This was fun, and boy did Iga have to work for it playing back to back matches over 2 days. Wickmayer in particular really tested Iga mentally. 

A great way to start off the hardcourt season with a win on home soil. 

The first Polish woman ever to do so in the Open Era. 

Another one for the history books.  

Doesn't get better really. 

On to the hardcourts of North America next. 

Jazda!.

Iga Swiatek notches 100th career hardcourt win in Warsaw

In a career full of milestones, Iga Swiatek hit yet another one on Saturday, beating Czech teen Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals of Warsaw, 6-1, 6-4, for the 100th hard-court win of her career.

She’s now 100-33 in her career on hard courts.

SWIATEK’S HARD-COURT RECORD BY YEAR (tour-level):

2019: 7-7
2020: 7-4
2021: 20-11
2022: 47-7
2023: 19-4
TOTAL: 100-33

At 75.2%, it’s her second-best surface by career winning percentage. She’s 87.5% in her career on clay (63-9) and 68.4% on grass (13-6).

Because three of her four Grand Slam titles have come at Roland Garros, Swiatek is sometimes better known for her success on clay—but her 14 career tour-level titles are actually split evenly between clay and hard courts (7 and 7). Even her 18 career tour-level finals are split evenly between the two surfaces (9 and 9).

Swiatek almost secured the 101st hard-court win of her career on Saturday, too, as she led 2009 US Open semifinalist (and now mom-on-tour) Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals of the WTA 250 event, 6-1, 5-2, but Wickmayer caught back up to 5-all in the second set when play was suspended for the day due to darkness.

On Sunday, Swiatek will not only try to close out that 101st hard-court win, she'll also try to reach the 19th WTA final of her career—and reach a WTA final on home soil in Poland for the first time.

Awaiting the winner of Swiatek-Wickmayer in the final later on Sunday will be Laura Siegemund, who won an all-German semifinal earlier in the day against 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist (and two-time mom-on-tour) Tatjana Maria, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

   tennis.com

Iga Swiatek pulls double duty in Warsaw to reach semis

World No.1 Iga Swiatek and Yanina Wickmayer will return to the court on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Warsaw Open to finish their semifinal match, and the winner will be back on court later to face Germany's Laura Siegemund.

Swiatek, the home favorite, led Wickmayer 6-1, 5-2 in the second semifinal Saturday, but couldn't finish off victory before the match was called off due to darkness.

The top seed served for the match twice, at 5-2 and 5-4, and also had three match points on Wickmayer's serve in the ninth game. But the Belgian, a former World No.12, climbed out of the hole and got even, ensuring her first semifinal appearance in six years would push on another day.

Earlier in the day, Swiatek and Wickmayer set their semifinal by winning their quarterfinal matches, which had previously been rained out on Friday. Swiatek beat eighth-seeded Czech teenager Linda Noskova 6-1, 6-4, in a match between the only two seeds to make the last eight, while Wickmayer beat Heather Watson 6-4, 6-3.

Siegemund, meanwhile, took the long road into her first singles final in five years. In all, she needed 6 hours and 15 minutes on court combined in the quarterfinal and semifinal against Italy's Lucrezia Stefanini and her compatriot Tatjana Maria to reach the championship match for the first time since winning the 2017 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on home soil.

Siegemund hit 59 winners to 30 unforced errors 2 hours and 56 minutes against her fellow German Maria, who struck 16 winners to 17 unforced errors.

"I have to say that the spectators, they carried me a little bit," Siegemund said after beating Maria. "Against Tadde, you have to win every point by yourself, she gives you nothing for free. I knew that. She's played like this all her life and it's very difficult because you keep making errors, and you need to believe in yourself.

Wickmayer is assured of playing twice on Sunday regardless of the result against Swiatek. She and Watson will play in the doubles final against Poles Weronika Falkowska and Katarzyna Piter.

wtatennis.com

2015 - Iga Swiatek is the first Polish player to reach a semi-final in a WTA event played in Poland since Agnieszka Radwanska in Katowice 2015. Pride.


100 - Iga Swiatek is the 8th player to reach the milestone of 100 matches as the #1 in the world since the WTA Rankings were published in 1975 after Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Seles, Hingis, Henin and Serena Williams. Centennial.

2 of my favourite stats this year. 

Iga Swiatek back in the quarterfinals on home soil at Warsaw Open

The Top 2 seeds had contrasting fortunes in the second round on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Warsaw Open.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek rolled in a 6-2, 6-2 win over American Claire Liu to book a spot in the quarterfinals, while No.2 seed Karolina Muchova was upset by Slovak qualifier Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 after failing to convert on a 5-1 lead and four match points in the third set.

Swiatek improved to 4-0 against Liu all-time, and 3-0 this year, with a 1-hour and 37-minute victory. After the American held serve to start the match, Swiatek won five straight games. She also won the first four games of the second set.

Liu previously finished off a 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 win over Yuan Yue in the opening round Thursday morning -- a match that began Tuesday, and then was washed out Wednesday due to rain. The pair were knotted at 4-4 in the first set when play was suspended on Tuesday and at 7-6(3), 2-4 on Wednesday.

Swiatek has dropped just nine games in eight sets played against Liu this year. (They were scheduled to play in the second round at the Miami Open, but Swiatek withdrew.)

Swiatek will next face eighth-seeded Linda Noskova, as the teenager was a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Viktoria Hruncakova in her second-round match. Swiatek and Noskova are the only seeded players to reach the quarterfinals.

wtatennis.com

Iga Swiatek starts hardcourt swing on home soil in Warsaw

A tennis player's white whale, so often, is winning their home tournament. In two decades in the Australian Open singles main draw, Samantha Stosur never reached the quarterfinals. It's been 20 years since an American man last won the US Open in singles. Pick any one of the litany of French players who've taken the court at Roland Garros since the days of Yannick Noah and Mary Pierce, and they'll tell you that a jam-packed stadium full of passionate Parisians is, in reality, a double-edged sword.

This year on the WTA Tour, fortunes for local favorites have been mixed. Katie Boulter beat Jodie Burrage in the final in Nottingham, the first all-British final on the women's tour since 1977, but Caroline Garcia and Jasmina Paolini both fell short in the final of events in Lyon, France in February, and Palermo, Italy, last week.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the dominant force on the WTA for the last 18 months, is hoping that on Sunday, she'll be standing in Boulter's company. Reigning US Open champion Swiatek's summer hard-court season is starting ahead of schedule, at a WTA 250 event in Warsaw, the Polish capital.

Twelve months ago, Swiatek lost in the quarterfinals to champion Caroline Garcia in her tournament debut, when the event was held on her favored clay. This year's pitstop in her backyard, again coming just before she heads across the Atlantic for WTA 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, figures to be better-suited prep for the year's final major, which starts in a month's time.

Though she cleared the first hurdle in a 6-4, 6-3 win over Uzbekistan's Nigina Abduraimova on Tuesday, Swiatek was far from her vintage best. She faced eight break points and lost serve twice, let a lead of 4-2 slip in the opener, and made things complicated from 5-1 in the second set before ending the 95-minute match on her fourth match point.

There were adjustments made throughout, Swiatek said, from her playing style in her first hard-court match since March, to the "different stresses" she was experiencing mentally.

"First rounds, they aren't easy, and anybody who knows a little bit about tennis, they'll tell you that it's a little bit harder to play at home," she said afterwards in her on-court interview.

"But I'm happy to have a chance to play in front of the Polish crowds. They are following me every place that I play, but in Warsaw, it's even better. It's amazing, and I'm happy that I can enjoy that.

"Coming from grass courts ... for sure, I need to work on some stuff, but hopefully, I'm going to play better and better every day."

Wednesday's play in Warsaw was washed out due to rain, but Swiatek is expected to return to the court Thursday against either American Claire Liu or China's Yuan Yue.

For her personal comfort level, she might be hoping to see the American: Swiatek has never played Yuan, but is 3-0 against Liu all-time. She's lost just five games in two matches against her this year.

tennis.com

Iga Swiatek falls short of Wimbledon semis to Elina Svitolina

 

I went into this tournament having very low expectations because it's Iga's least comfortable surface and one she has least experience on, but she kept surpassing my and maybe even her own expectations. 

Until today when she simply came across someone who was more fearless and better when it mattered. Iga had plenty of chances (serving out the first set and early break points in the 3rd) so that'll will definitely hurt, and her serve and forehand did let her down but all in all it's been a great tournament. 

This loss doesn't negate the great progress she has made since last year, she really is slowly but surely figuring out how to play on this surface. 

And she did break new ground by reaching the quarters (of  this and every Grand Slam overall now)  joining a small lift of players who've done the same. 

A lot of people will probably be analyzing and wondering what happened at the end of the first, but when you don't feel comfortable on a surface the nerves and pressure can get to you and do funny things to your game. 

Which is honestly what I think happened.  Still so extremely proud of the way she fought in the 2nd set despite not playing her best and managing to take it to a 3rd. 

She showed her mental resilience once again (for a while it was looking like a repeat of the 4th round) but Svitolina was just too good in the important moments and held it together really well. 

Again what she's doing is simply extraordinary and like Iga herself I will be pulling for her to win the whole thing now.  Well her and Ons Jabeur. I will be equally happy and gutted for whoever wins or loses. 

Just as long as it's not Aryna Sabalenka.  

Things will now get interesting in terms of the #1 ranking I believe Sabalenka has to reach the title match to take it from Iga. But Iga could get it back by winning her home tournament in Warsaw. 

Needless to say I'm pulling for all the other players. 

Keep your head up Iga and get some well earned rest. I know you'll come back stronger!. 

See you on the hard courts!. 

Jazda!