Iga Swiatek has shed light on her enraptured celebration after she defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the Madrid Open.
The world's top two put on a show at the Caja Magica for over three hours in the longest WTA final of 2024. Swiatek, who saw off three match points, secured victory when Sabalenka planted her final forehand just long and fell to the dirt.
She dropped her racket and clasped her face as the joyful feeling overcame tired limbs. Swiatek lifted herself and could be seen fist-pumping in the direction of her team, who were equally ecstatic. Madrid was the one major city Swiatek had yet to win on the Europan clay swing.
Across the other side of the net, a dejected Sabalenka viciously took out all her frustration on her wand before the two players, understandably, quickly shook hands.
In an interview on Tennis Channel, Swiatek was quizzed on where all that emotion emanated from to evoke such an adrenaline-filled celebration. The Pole explained that regardless of the tournament, the commitment level is the same. So, winning meant just as much as winning a Grand Slam or a 250.
"Because honestly it doesn't matter if it's a Grand Slam or another tournament you just want to win and you just want to play your best game this exact moment. We're not thinking about if it's Grand Slam or if it's 1000, or if it's 250, if you struggle and if you want to work through it and if you know giving 100%, it matters the same way."
"So any match that I play I want to win and I'm super happy that it happened today because this I think this one is going to be pretty important for me you know for a longtime. And if I'm going to take some lessons from it, I think it's going to give me a lot of wisdom. So hopefully I'm going to work through it, hopefully I'm going to recover until Rome and for sure it was a really exciting one."
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