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Iga Swiatek admits she "does not like playing against Jelena Ostapenko" as the Latvian's game style is very uncomfortable for her own style of play. Swiatek, who has a positive record against pretty much every top player, stunningly has never managed to beat world No 16 Ostapenko.
At this past US Open, Swiatek suffered yet another loss to Ostapenko as the Latvian beat the Pole 3-6 6-3 6-1 in the round-of-16 at Flushing Meadows. Now, Ostapenko owns a 4-0 head-to-head against Swiatek. “It wasn’t the first time I lost in the fourth round.
I don’t consider it a total failure, as many people say. I know a tournament like this can happen. Even last year I was very close to being eliminated in the fourth round. Sometimes you can get out of a situation like that, sometimes you can’t.
I don’t like playing with Ostapenko. There are simply some players who are uncomfortable to play with. I bet she has the opposite situation and she especially likes my style. This is completely natural in tennis. There is no point in falling into a catastrophe, we have to move forward,” Swiatek told Eurosport.
Swiatek would prefer to have more time for training, improvement
This season, Swiatek has played in 66 matches and has a 56-10 record. Since Swiatek is constantly reaching the latter stages of tournaments, there is not really much time in between for her to rest or work on something in her game.
Going forward, Swiatek hints she will take that into consideration when she starts making schedule for the 2024 season. “The truth is that there was little time to train. This is the second season in which I have played the most matches among all the girls and I suffered two injuries.
I think that, if I were not the leader of the world ranking, I would have much more time to develop as an athlete. Next season we will definitely think about the calendar. I’m the type of player who needs a full week or two to improve my technique.
Because it can always happen that the technique fails, you start to panic and think in your head what to do to play better," Swiatek said.