Iga Swiatek started the 2024 campaign amazingly at the United Cup, which made her revelation after the Australian Open exit more shocking.
The Pole started her 2024 campaign with an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi where she played well. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a good warm-up for the United Cup, which would come 10 days later.
She was brilliant at the United Cup, helping her country go to the final, but ultimately, they lost to Germany. An unbeaten 5-0 record at the competition secured her MVP award at the tournament, as she headed to the first Grand Slam of the season.
Despite the tremendous performances, Melbourne proved quite tough for her. Speaking to the media after her shocking loss to Linda Noskova, Swiatek admitted that she was very stressed at the event, a lot more than she generally is, even when it comes to Grand Slams.
"Whole tournament. For sure I was more stressed than on other tournaments, especially first two rounds. But I think some things just didn't work as they did before, even though I was working the same way. I feel like I did really everything I could in pre-season to improve some stuff that I wanted to."
It was very surprising to see her say that because she looked pretty good. There wasn't much that would make you think that she was struggling with her level, but things just didn't feel right. There are several reasons for that, some of which she spoke about after the match.
"Then I came here and I wasn't playing kind of natural anymore. I don't know, like my split step was too late sometimes. Reaction a little bit slower. Some other things. Basically, yeah, I was trying just to improve that. That was the only thing I kind of focused on. That's why it wasn't so natural as usually."
As unfortunate as the early exit is, it's not the end of the world, as she'll have plenty of chances to win more matches in the coming weeks.
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