Iga Swiatek has previously talked about embracing weaknesses, but former ATP player Jimmy Arias thinks her personality of taking women's tennis to a new level is lacking.
Swiatek has come in for harsh criticism in recent years as a result of breaking down and crying in periods of crises. Occasionally, Swiatek has burst into tears when losing matches or during press conferences, most notably at this year's United Cup singles defeat to Jessica Pegula.
Since becoming the WTA's top-ranked player in the early part of 2022, Swiatek has felt the added pressure of being under the microscope. She has admitted that crying in defeat is just as normal as screaming in joy while winning - both are part of human behavior she says.
But Arias doesn't mind seeing the Pole angry and emotional in matches and wants to see the personality side of her game. Arias believes this might actually be holding back Swiatek from taking women's tennis to the next level.
"From my standpoint, I don't think she's been great for women's tennis because she wears her hat so low that you can't even see her face or her eyes during a match, so you don't get a connection as much as you could. So, I don't mind her getting angry in some ways, but I want to see her personality."
At last month's Roland Garros, Swiatek was visibly emotional after defeating Karolina Muchova in the final, and admitted during the press conference she felt the pressure of coming as the defending champion for weeks and confided that it wasn't easy to stay mentally strong.
"This one, for sure, it was a little bit tougher in terms of, you know, as you said, injuries and the pressure, and also coming back to this tournament as a defending champion, I right now feel like it’s a little bit different."
"So I’m happy that, I don’t know, I finished the whole clay court swing so well, and that I kind of survived. I guess I’m never going to kind of doubt my strength again maybe because of that."
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