Iga Swiatek is not the most known player regarding sponsorship deals, but she's slowly getting there as she continues to dominate the sport on the court.
You'd think that being number one on the WTA Tour for over a year would make you the most marketable tennis player around the world. Quite often, it does, but not in the case of Swiatek. A somewhat reserved player who doesn't stick out in any way other than her incredible tennis, getting deals was a slow burn for the Polish player.
She signed her first deals a few years ago and reflected on how much pressure she felt afterwards following her most recent win at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters. Pressure is something she's been dealing with for a while, and having been number for over a year means that she's handling it well.
People often, they don't know that we actually have to work on that as well. I remember, you know, signing my first sponsorship deals in, like, 2019 and 2020 and how much pressure it put on my shoulders.
Even people kind of close to me sometimes, my family, they thought that it's going to, I don't know, give me wings and, like, I'm gonna be just proud and play my best game you know. But sometimes you feel like you need to perform better because they believe in you and you're representing them.
While Swiatek doesn't have a portfolio like Emma Raducanu has, she's still finding great opportunities. As of this year, Swiatek is working with Federer-backed On, who will help her create a signature tennis shoe that benefits how she plays.
So I'm just really happy that I have these companies behind my back and they are believing in me. I would say it doesn't have a bad influence on me. It did before when I was younger and I just didn't understand a lot of stuff, but I really worked hard to change that and now it's just great.
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