Iga Swiatek took on good friend Kaja Juvan at the 2023 US Open, and while the win came easy, she approached it as a true professional.
Swiatek showed very little empathy in her match against Kaja Juvan, losing only one game in the entire match. It was the worst beatdown she handed her good friend, but it's something the Slovenian could see coming.
Swiatek admitted before the match that neither struggled to approach their matches as professionals, fully putting the friendship aside. It was pretty evident by the way she smashed her as she was laser-focused. In ways, knowing the situation, Swiatek ended up being more focused than usual.
No, I wasn't laughing for sure. For sure it wasn't an easy match for her. Emotionally as well it's not easy to, like, play with such a score.
But I really just wanted to focus on myself and I think also because I knew that it's going to be a little bit harder for me to focus because she's my best friend, I was actually more focused than usual.
The friends shared a really nice hug after the match, with Swiatek moving on to the second week of the US Open. The victory was obviously very satisfactory for her, not just because it sent her to the second week but also because she could disconnect from the situation as well as she did.
I'm happy that I could do that and I was like fully professional. Usually on a match when something like that happens, I don't really look and I did the same this time as well.
Winning matches easily is important for Swiatek because she's endured some painful losses in the lead-up to the US Open. That and the pressure from defending the trophy and her number one rank are tough to handle, so winning matches comfortably alleviates some of the stress.
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