Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz bear many similarities; however, at their tennis core, they are also very different.
After all, one is a laser-focused machine who hits the ball hard and with remarkable spin, relentlessly. She never lets up, often beating her opponents into submission with her consistency.
The Spaniard, meanwhile, is far more unpredictable. At his best, he’s unstoppable. However, at his worst, he is often dragged into dogfights with players far below his level.
These contrasting styles are what make tennis so interesting, as they boast five and six Grand Slam titles respectively, and have both held the world number one spot in their respective fields too.
And now, Iga Swiatek has outlined one extra thing that she sympathises with Carlos Alcaraz on.
Iga Swiatek admits she agrees with Carlos Alcaraz’s struggles
Speaking in her post-match press conference at the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek was asked if she ever feels the way Alcaraz has admitted to, where he has to build into an event rather than hit the ground running.
As an ultra-focused individual who seems entirely dedicated to her task, her answer was rather sympathetic, admitting: “I think it depends.
“I think it depends. Sometimes I feel, yeah, great from the go, and then during the tournaments, I start feeling that something is up.
“Sometimes I have the same as Carlos, so I need to get my rhythm to figure out you know what exactly I can do on these courts, with these conditions, you know, with these balls, and then later on, I feel like I’m kind of smarter, and the decisions are already better, naturally, you know, because you just get repetition.
“So most of the time I think it is like Carlos is saying, you know.
“But, every tournament can be different, so I sometimes, you know, have a lot of time to practice before, and I start from already a high level, and then you just have to keep going to the end. So yeah.”
Iga Swiatek forced to break up long tennis season
Swiatek has complained about the tennis schedule at length, and with good reason.
After all, it is undeniably one of the most gruelling sports, forcing its athletes to compete at the highest level, for hours on end, in ever-changing conditions and with just a few weeks’ rest at the end of the year.
It’s a valid complaint, but one that falls on deaf ears, as it only seems like more competitions are sprouting up.
Speaking about the schedule more recently, and how she manages it throughout the year, Swiatek said: “So I, kind of, try to only look at the first part of the year, and then switch to second.
“Split it up because if I’m going to think in a broader horizon and think about next 11 months, then I’m going to already be tired after one week thinking that the season is so long.”
Given how her form has picked up during this second half of the year, it will be interesting to see whether the 23-year-old can peak at the US Open.
