Karolina Pliskova has played several great players, but she thinks Iga Swiatek is tougher to overcome than Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
Aside from a brief spell after last year's US Open, Swiatek has been the world No. 1 for a few years. Her consistency is incredible, especially since she is still 23 years old, meaning the Pole could improve even further.
The four-time French Open champion's superb tennis on the court rightly makes headlines, but she sometimes generates attention off the court for her views about the tennis calendar.
Swiatek thinks there are too many tournaments during the season. She believes that continuing to make top players compete at so many events will not end well and will result in consequences such as serious injury problems for players.
Jessica Pegula recently voiced similar concerns about the tennis schedule. This year's Canadian Open champion spoke about the greater number of two-week Masters-1000 events next year and the problems that could create.
Swiatek will need to put those concerns aside and focus on the upcoming US Open. The women's draw at Flushing Meadows was made on Thursday, including a matchup between Naomi Osaka and Jelena Ostapenko.
2021 Wimbledon runner-up Pliskova is one of the most experienced players on the WTA Tour. That means she has played various players during her career, including many legends of the sport.
In an interview with Tennis Gazette, Pliskova reflected on her matches against some of those legends. The Czech said she did not mind playing Williams because the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion struggled slightly against her game.
"Serena didn’t like players which are playing fast and serving well, so I felt like she was struggling a little bit with my game, Even the matches which I lost to her, I felt like it was even, you know, she would never kind of guilt me like she did some players. Then once of course like I beat her, I always had the belief that, okay, I can beat her."
Pliskova then compared Swiatek's style to Williams' and Sharapova's. Although Swiatek is not as aggressive, she is more solid and gives her opponents very few unforced errors, which Pliskova found more challenging to deal with in her matches against the Pole.
"To play against Iga Swiatek is much harder because she doesn’t give you anything. With Serena, in the end her game was much more aggressive or like [Maria] Sharapova who I played. But they would at least give you light points or make some mistakes."
"I feel like Iga Swiatek is not so aggressive but she really gives you nothing and she doesn’t even have one dip where she would have like one bad game, at least in the matches where I played her."
Pliskova defeated Williams during her run to the US Open final in 2016, her only victory in their four meetings. The 32-year-old lost two matches against Sharapova and three contests against Swiatek.
These comments from Pliskova demonstrate just how formidable an opponent Swiatek is and why she will undoubtedly win many more Grand Slams in the future.