World number 1 Iga Swiatek has opened up about her perceptions of feeling 'behind' when breaking onto the scene in the tennis world.
With top spot in the WTA Rankings firmly hers, the Pole is on a blistering 25-match winning streak, with no one being able to get close to her level in recent weeks and months.
Her most recent of these wins came against two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka. This sets her up nicely for a quarter-final test against US Open winner Bianca Andreescu at the WTA 1000 event in Rome.
Seeing the heights she is at now and the caliber of opposition that she has been dominating means that grinding out wins on the junior Tour seems like a lifetime.
In fact, it was not all that long ago that Swiatek was competing amongst the sport's young hopefuls, and she admits to having the impression that others were leaps and bounds ahead of her in terms of tennis ability.
"I thought I'm a little bit behind so I didn't really imagine myself being at the top of the WTA. I mean, why would I? There are so many kids in Poland trying to succeed, and it's not that often."
Speaking after claiming her 25th consecutive win, the Polish player showed her perfectionism, as she knew that she could have made a better start into the match, but she was still able to win it.
"I didn't start well, and everybody could see that. I'm really happy with the way I reacted and how I improved in the first set. Also how different the second set looked to the first one because I could really reset and really change the way I played. That's the most positive thing for me."
The 20-year-old from Warsaw has already had success at the highest level, winning the 2020 edition of Roland Garros. It appears that now it is just a matter of time before she starts to impose herself more on the competition she has in front of her.
With the 2022 edition of that very Slam just around the corner, it would not at all be out of the question for her to go and claim a second Paris crown to add to her growing collection of titles.