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Jelena Ostapenko thinks Iga Swiatek does not like her aggressive style at all and also believes that it is "quite difficult mentally" for the Pole to play against her because she has never beaten her. Swiatek, who has been the best player in the game over the last two years, owns a positive head-to-head against pretty much all top players.
But against Ostapenko, Swiatek has four losses in as many matches. Their most recent match came at the US Open, where world No 13 Ostapenko came back from a set down to beat Swiatek 3-6 6-3 6-1. With that win, Ostapenko ended Swiatek's title defense at Flushing Meadows and also improved to 4-0 against the Pole.
"I think it's quite difficult for her mentally to play against me because I won many times. She doesn't like my style of tennis either. She likes to dictate the game more, she also tries to play aggressively. It is difficult for her in matches against me - I try to play more aggressively.
At the US Open I played against her, I lost the first set, but I continued to play my game anyway. I played aggressively and I think that's how I won that match," Ostapenko told Latvian media LSM.
Ostapenko happy with her 2023 results
In 2023, Ostapenko won one WTA title - she was victorious at a WTA 250 grass tournament in Birmingham.
At the Grand Slam level, Ostapenko had two notable results as she was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open and US Open. Also, Ostapenko finished the 2023 season three spots outside the top-10 ranking. Next year, 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko will try to win her second Slam. "It was a pretty good season overall.
Tournaments have been won, I finished the year in the top-15. I think that step by step we need to return to the top-10. We should try to win another Grand Slam," Ostapenko said.