'Worst Emotion You Can Feel In Sports Is Shame': Swiatek On Dealing With Emotions

| by Evita Mueller

Iga Swiatek has been showing more emotions this year compared to last year, and she talked about emotions in tennis at the 2023 US Open.

The Polish player was never a rock as we've seen quite a big range of emotions from her. We've seen her angry, nervous, happy, and even crying on a tennis court. It's normal and quite good for fans to relate to players better.

A tennis match is a whirlwind of emotions, and dealing with that is essential to be successful. Some of the players that handle the emotions best are among the best on the WTA Tour, and she's still learning to do that, despite winning the majority of the matches that she plays. She's made huge improvements, which is evident in the number of finals she won, but she can still be better.

Oh, wow. Well, for sure it's not easy, you know. I think, you know, the worst emotion you can feel in sport is shame when you play bad and you know that all these people are watching, you know. So this is something that I think, you know, this is the hardest thing. I felt that, you know, couple of times in my career. It wasn't easy.

Swiatek on emotions in tennis
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I think I made huge progress since couple of years ago. Yeah, I don't remember last time I broke a racquet or, I don't know, had, like, a burst of emotions, you know. Usually obviously there is something, because I am emotional and this is, like, a stressful job with a lot of tension and adrenaline.

Swiatek is well-versed in the range of emotions that players feel both on and off the court and generally the negative ones are harder to deal with. It's part of the job though, and she has a support system to help her with that.

For sure, you know, there are positive and negative emotions. Usually it's harder to handle the negative ones. Yeah, it's not easy. It's part of the job to kind of just accept that you're going to be watched and kind of not care about that. But on the other hand, yeah, work on being able to kind of control your emotions and what you do on court.

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