Iga Swiatek took responsibility for the unexpected loss to Anna Kalinskaya at the 2024 Dubai Championships, explaining that it was on her.
The Polish number one had an interesting Middle Eastern swing this year, which was a bit worse compared to last year. Last year, Swiatek won the Qatar Open and then made the Dubai Championships final.
This year, she played really well in Doha, making her way to the final and beating Elena Rybakina there. That part was good this year as well. The problem is that she failed to make the final in Dubai this year.
She actually made it to the semi-final with some solid performances but was then completely outplayed by Anna Kalinskaya in the semi-final.
That's an unfortunate result that left Swiatek quite angry after the match, but there are a few reasons why it happened. She mentioned some of those after the loss at the WTA 1000 event.
"She played well. For sure, she deserves to be in the final, but I feel like it was more about me and my level. I wasn't able to focus on myself, and I wasn't able to implement any tactics that I had."
Swiatek's level, truthfully, wasn't very good. She struggled immensely with the Russian's serve, sending many returns wide. That's unfortunate for her because, in quite a few rallies, Swiatek would overpower her opponent, but she didn't get into enough of those.
"So, I would say the preparation was the best I could make anyway; I just wasn't able to make anything that made sense today on the court. Maybe I did in the first six games, but then it just…"
The Pole certainly didn't play as well as she could play and was nowhere near the level she had in Doha the previous week. Now, she will have to focus on the Sunshine Double, which is played in the United States in March.
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