WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek has learned to take losses up her chin and reckons with so many matches coming thick and fast on tour, she'll always get a second chance.
Swiatek bounced back from her Canadian Open defeat to Jessica Pegula in scintillating style, thumping Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-0 to progress into the Round of 16 in Cincinnati. Speaking at the Tennis Channel desk after the win at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters, Swiatek gave an eloquent answer on how she has learned to overcome close losses in recent months.
In the past, the Polish star has been overwhelmed in the aftermath of losing matches, crying on the court or during her post-match press conferences. But the state of the tour has taught Swiatek a great lesson in resilience, and she's not had time to process losses when tournaments come so quickly and get another chance straight after.
"Honestly, with so many tournaments on tour, I always feel like I'm going to have a second chance and it's not like the world is ending. Earlier in my career every loss was a tragedy for me and I needed a couple of days to reset and find new goals."
"Sometimes it motivated me but sometimes, when I felt like I'm giving my 100 percent and still lost, it really slowed me down a little bit. I don't feel like that anymore."
Swiatek remained adamant that a semifinal finish in Montreal was a massive improvement from last season when she lost in the same tournament back in Toronto. Despite leaving Canada empty-handed, Switek was still able to clinch the No. 1 ranking for the US Open.
"Also losing by not much (margin) like that, you have no regrets. When you know you did everything you could that day, it helps because you are going to be proud of yourself anyway. Montreal was much better than last year's tournament, so I'm still proud of myself."
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