Iga Swiatek had a more challenging transition to the Miami Open after winning the Indian Wells Open, but she hopes to deal with it.
The Polish player hopes to adapt well to the vastly different conditions in Miami and win the Sunshine Double once more. Winning the Sunshine Double isn't something new to Swiatek; she did it two years ago.
It was part of her iconic 37-match winning streak, which saw her soar to the top of women's tennis. Things are a bit different now, as the competition is harder, with a few players stepping up.
She can control her tennis, but what she can't control are the conditions, and Miami is notorious for being quite tough to handle. There's a stark difference between Indian Wells and Miami.
The former is quite warm and dry, while the latter is also warm but very humid, which is even more challenging than the dry heat. Another thing is the court speed. Indian Wells is rather slow and high-bouncing.
Miami was similar for many years, but after James Blake took over as tournament director, the courts changed. They are now rather quick and low-bouncing.
All of that will cause Swiatek some trouble as she has very little time in Miami. She had a long stay in Indian Wells, having won the event, and now it's about turning things around quickly, something other players didn't have to do.
"I wouldn't treat it as disadvantage. I don't wanna put myeslf in that position. For sure it's not easy. I think it's the hardest part of our job to keep consistency and to adapt quickly to new conditions, especially when the conditiosn are so much different."
She doesn't think about it too much because that's just part of being a good player, and it's not exclusive to this part of the season, either. She'll have to endure some drastic changes a few more times in the coming months.
"I think I'll have this kind of situation often if I play pretty well in the next couple of months because the same is going to happen after the Fed Cup before Stuttgart, after Stuttgart before Madrid, so I'm kind of prepared for that."
The crucial part of Swiatek's job will be remaining patient. It's a process, and she hopes to handle it as well as she did last week.
"Obviously I want to play well so I just have to have patience and not expect myself to be 100 % comfortable from day one. Honestly I don't think many players feel that way when they have time so I hope I get used to the conditions in the middle of the tournament like I did in Indian Wells."
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