Iga Swiatek's father said recently in an interview that his daughter has done more than enough, and she doesn't have to prove anything to anybody anymore.
Swiatek is the number one player on the WTA Tour, which in itself implies that she's done tremendously well. It's impossible to become the top-ranked player in the world without winning many matches and tournaments, and she's done that for a couple of years now.
She's up to 5 Grand Slam trophies in her career, which is an incredible mark as some players like Naomi Osaka remain on 4. Osaka was talked about in superlatives just a couple of years ago, which paints a clear picture of just how impressive what we've seen from Swiatek has been.
While she's been ridiculously impressive, she hasn't won everything because, like every athlete, she also struggled at times. It's been two seasons since the last time she was able to win two Grand Slams in one year.
She didn’t win the gold medal at the Olympics despite being expected to do so, and overall, she couldn't perform well at majors outside of the French Open. Some of her fans were underwhelmed by her Olympic experience, even though she brought home the bronze medal.
The disappointment mostly stems from how good she's been in the past. It's the standard she set, but that's obviously impossible to maintain every day. Her father explained that, as a former athlete himself, in a recent interview with WP SportoweFakty.
"Maybe Iga [Swiatek] has really accustomed fans to the fact that most matches are quite easy for her. However, one has to keep a certain distance from it. It's not like she has to win every match."
"I myself explain to her that she has already done so much that now she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone and should focus on enjoying it."
Swiatek has certainly done a lot for women's tennis and Polish tennis. She's the best player the country has had in a long time and is on her way to becoming one of the best players in women's tennis ever.
How the future goes will determine that, but it's widely expected that she doesn't regress as a player. Still, her father is aware that anything can happen in the career of an athlete.
As good as she's been so far, it doesn't mean she will be equally impressive in years to come, especially with more and more challengers coming up.
"I'm not afraid of that at all, because we know that there will come a time when she will train or play worse. Or simply her motivation will be lower. That's part of life and sport. In her case, it's all a matter of internal motivation."
"If she falls for various reasons, then of course her position in the ranking will also fall. However, I don't think it will be a drama. It's a natural course of events, because life is not a straight line that only goes up."
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