'Doesn't Really Matter' Swiatek Not Focusing On World No. 1 Chase
WTA
Iga Swiatek is not number one on the WTA Tour anymore, and it's a strange situation for her after spending over a year as the top-ranked player in the world.
Swiatek got the number one by playing one of the best seasons we've seen recently. She was utterly spectacular in 2022, and regression came this year. Nobody really expected her to regress this much, but she certainly did and lost the ranking in part thanks to the rise of Aryna Sabalenka, who is the reigning number one.
Chasing it is rather different for the Polish player as she was the player being chased for over a year. It's not something she obsesses over as she shared at the 2023 China Open, choosing to focus more on developing herself into a better player, but she obviously prefers being number one to number two.
I think it's a little bit easier to come back to the mindset of chasing somebody because that's what we've been doing our whole lives. There's only one person who's at No.1. I think this was harder to get used to last season.- Swiatek on chasing rather than being chased
This event will be the first one both Sabalenka and Swiatek will play at since they swapped places on the rankings. She focuses on winning her match and hopefully going all the way rather than what happens with number one.
But honestly, it doesn't really matter for me because after US Open, I knew I'm going to drop to second position. I stopped thinking about rankings at all because I felt like there's some baggage off my shoulders. I could focus more on just working and kind of getting back to the more peaceful and normal rhythm of practicing.
Whether she focuses on it or not, the battle for number one will be interesting to observe. Both players have a good chance to finish number one but Sabalenka has a specific goal much more than Swiatek who already did it once.
It's different because you're just focusing on the future, not on defending something. I'm kind of using that.
