Exclusive: ’It’s Iga And Then The Rest’: Swiatek Ahead Of Everyone Says Macci

| by Erik Virostko

Iga Swiatek is still the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour, and according to Rick Macci, her level is also above everyone else.

Still only 22-year-old Pole is doing things we haven’t seen for quite some time in the women’s game. She’s winning the vast majority of the matches that she plays, and not just like that, but almost every time, Swiatek wins in a dominant style, which we haven’t seen probably since Serena Williams.

Many stats back her, as almost every month, it seems that the four-time Grand Slam champion breaks some record that has been standing since the legendary American set it. Early in her career, Williams was coached by renowned coach Rick Macci, and in an interview with Tennis-Infinity.com, the American coach talked about the player that is now matching or beating her records.

“Yeah, I feel it's Iga and then the rest, just because she's proven she has four grand slams in her pocket, you know, in her back pocket, you know, three French to me, she's a leader in the clubhouse.”

‘Leader in the clubhouse,’ as Macci put it, has been atop of the WTA Rankings more than any active player right now, and the biggest difference, according to Macci, is her mentality. On top of that, he says that Swiatek ‘checks enough boxes that she stands alone.’

“You know, mentally, she's proven to me, I've been there, done that. And she's not gonna wobble as much as the others because there's more glue in her game. She finds angles on the court. I mean, she makes some amazing angles, you know, but I love how she competes, and she checks enough boxes that she, to me, stands alone.”

But at the same time, the seven-time USPTA Coach of the Year emphasizes, that anyone can beat anyone in today’s game, and he mentions the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, who have been the biggest rivals to the Polish player so far.

“But that being said, anybody can beat anybody. But she's shown me more consistency mentally, you know? That's what I see now. Rybakina, sure she's capable. Sabalenka is capable, there's other people capable.”

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