Playing in front of sporting royalty can be a burden even for the best tennis players, but Iga Swiatek has learned to block out the additional pressure that comes with it.
With an introverted personality, the Pole was regularly a victim of circumstances whenever she was in a social setting. On a tennis court, there was no place to hide when the pressure and the occasion overwhelm you.
In the early part of her career, Swiatek's fragile mindset and approach prompted her to make critical decisions regarding her coaching team. As she began to rise through the ranks and sustain success on the WTA Tour, the need for a sports psychologist became an area of interest.
The 22-year-old has been working with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz since 2019 with Swiatek crediting her countrywoman in her development as a player. In as much as tennis is a physical and technical sport, mastering the mind is what separates champions from amateurs - at least that's how Swiatek saw it when she won Roland Garros back in 2020.
When she blitzed past her good friend Kaja Juvan 6-0, 6-1 to reach the 2023 US Open fourth round, a very fascinating question was asked. How does she maintain her focus during a match, blocking out all the noise, forgetting who you're playing against and dignitaries watching from the stands? Her answer was quite detailed explaining how she learned all of it from Daria.
"Well, I learned how to be more focused, for sure. That was one of the main actually reasons that I wanted to work with a mental coach or sports psychologist, because I knew that there is a lot I can change in that when I was younger."
"So, well, I kind of just think about getting my brain, you know, busy in terms of thinking about what I should do on court so I won't have time to think about other stuff."
The end product of a sports psychologist isn't always a tangible one as it only involves subtle details, telling you what you can do in certain moments in the match, what Swiatek called 'tools'. It will be up to the player to make a decision on what tools to use in each of those moments.
Playing in front of sporting royalty like formerly respectable sportspeople has not been an issue for Swiatek. Last year, the Pole's coaching team invited famous American Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn to one of her matches unbeknownst to Swiatek. This was to test Swiatek's mental focus.
"There are plenty of things you can focus on. Depends on the day. The thing is that these people will give you, like, tools, you know, and stuff you can do, but your job is to choose the right stuff in the right moment and to use it. You know, each day sometimes is a different solution."
"I haven't had many situations when I had a celebrity in the stands and I completely couldn't focus. I remember also, like, we invited Lindsey Vonn last year to my box and my team kind of did that without my knowledge, because I'm still kind of young, so we are seeing what I can know and still be focused on and what not."
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