Iga Swiatek led Poland to already two inspired wins at the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals, and she plans to do everything possible to bring the country even more success.
Without a doubt, Swiatek is the most successful tennis player to ever come from Poland. She is a five-time Grand Slam champion and held the World No. 1 spot for 125 weeks.
Unfortunately for Poland, apart from a representation as a Polish player, Swiatek didn't bring the country a lot of success on the international stage. This year, she did that by winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, but she rarely competed at the Billie Jean King Cup in the past.
That was mostly because of the scheduling clash with the WTA Finals, a year-end tournament that usually ends only days before the start of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
This year, however, Swiatek made a surprising decision change, signing up to play at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, despite initially not appearing on the entry list.
She then made her way to Malaga and, already in the first tie, led Poland past Spain. After Magda Linette bested Sara Sorribes Tormo in a marathon match that lasted three hours and 51 minutes, Swiatek outplayed Paula Badosa to send her country to the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals, she had a difficult task. Magdalena Frech lost her match to Marie Bouzkova, so Swiatek had to beat Linda Noskova if she wanted to keep her country's hopes alive.
She did that, even though it was a proper battle. The World No. 2 player bested Noskova 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5, forcing the deciding tie against the Czech Republic, which was a doubles match.
Untraditionally, Swiatek appeared on the doubles court with Katarzyna Kawa, and the Polish duo dominated against the doubles World No. 1, Katerina Siniakova, and Marie Bouzkova, winning 6-2, 6-4.
Following this hard-fought win, Swiatek admitted that since this is her last tournament of the season, she could even die on the tennis court, giving 100% for her country.
"That’s my last tournament of the season and playing for Poland is always amazing. Even if I’m gonna die on court, so I will do it, but give a hundred percent."
Up next, Poland will take on Italy in the semi-finals, and given the team's strength, it's possible that Swiatek might need to play doubles again. Following Poland's win over the Czech Republic, she was very proud of her fight, and she might need to fight even more against Italy.
"Obviously, you know, I'm also happy with my singles win, because it wasn't an easy match. It was, I don't know, easy to give up at some point, but I didn't do that. I wanted to win and at least try (smiling)."
"So I'm happy that I pushed till the end, even though the energy level sometimes was pretty low. I don't know. I'm just proud that I kept pushing."
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