Swiatek Wins Before Even Stepping On Court According To Connors
WTA
Legendary player Jimmy Connors showered Iga Swiatek with praise explaining that she wins matches before she even steps on the court.
Swiatek has worked her way to become one of the best players on the WTA Tour. The Polish player was never hailed as a huge talent, but she worked very hard and remained consistent, achieving her goal of becoming a Grand Slam champion and becoming World No. 1.
That consistency makes it very hard to beat her, with opponents needing to play close to their best in order to beat her. Aryna Sabalenka recently produced a sensational effort to take down Swiatek.
Jimmy Connors talked about that in his podcast, explaining that opponents can't beat the Polish superstar unless they play their absolute best.
"The players now know that to go out and to play her and to beat her, they got to hit the red line almost every shot and play over and above because she's winning matches now before she even walks out there."
"She's got that swagger. She’s got that reputation now. That's what you work for. So those who go out and beat her, they produce. She makes everybody she plays raise their level of game."
The magic of being so good is what Connors described. Oftentimes, Swiatek has such a huge advantage before she steps out on the court that it almost becomes easy for her to win.
But it still requires a lot of effort and just being consistent with what she does. According to Connors, this respect is the biggest compliment a player can get.
"That's the greatest compliment I think you can get in the game, is that to go out there and know that everybody's gunning for you. You got the bullseye on your back, and everybody almost would rather beat her than win the tournament. And that's a pretty great reputation. By the way, her record [in] the last couple [of] years deserves that."
Even Swiatek's biggest rivals and competitors are aware that they have to step up their game, and one of those is the World No. 3 Jessica Pegula.
The American is one of the players that managed to beat the young Pole and she spoke about how the Tour is changing thanks to players pushing each other.
"I think in a way whoever's winning or losing, we all push each other, right? When you see someone come up and kind of set the bar higher, someone like Iga did, it forces girls like myself, Rybakina, Sabalenka, to also have to raise their game because there's no choice."
"I think when you see that happening, that's how people get better. Kind of like Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, they all say if it wasn't for one of the others, they probably wouldn't have been as good."
