French Open: Keeping things simple is Iga Swiatek’s mantra | Tennis News – Times of India

Swiatek, who walked into a packed press room in the lower bowels of Roland Garros, wasn’t indifferent to the numbers, but the applause surprised her. “I felt the baggage,” Swiatek acknowledged.
“The hardest thing is not letting yourself overanalyze, not letting yourself think about all the numbers. I have been trying to do that for a few months now, these two weeks here were harder, but I’m getting better and better at it.”
Swiatek may be into keeping things simple, but it also is who she is – remarkably uncomplicated. Especially for a champion. Overthinking is the enemy. “I think many players are overanalyzing. We treat those finals as something, that if we are gonna lose our life is bad,” she said, adding, “All these great champions, they kind of accept that they may lose.”
Swiatek ran into her idol Rafael Nadal at breakfast last year after the Spaniard had lost in the semifinals of the French Open, falling to his rival Novak Djokovic. “I said to Rafa that I was crying the whole evening because he lost,” Swiatek said, “He was, like, ‘Oh, it’s just a tennis match, you know. You win, you lose. It’s normal’. That’s something not everybody can do, treat those big moments as another match. When Rafa or Novak are playing, they are just tennis players, who are playing their sport.”
The Pole arrived for her post-championship conference face scrubbed clean, save for the emotions that were running high. The look of a winner.
“I don’t wear makeup because I don’t feel like I kind of have to. I don’t think that will change anything,” said Swiatek. “Also, it’s going to come off when I use a towel. It’s not on my PR brief.”
Swiatek has always harped on consistency right from when she exploded onto the scene at Roland Garros two years ago. “Getting that 35th win (in the streak), doing something more than Serena (Williams) did, it’s something special. I always wanted to have some kind of a record. In tennis it’s pretty hard after Serena’s career,” Swiatek said. “Obviously winning a Grand Slam (makes me proud), but this one was pretty special because I felt like I’ve done something that nobody has done (after 2000).”
The Pole was quick to point at the net when asked if there were areas in her game that she could improve on. “Grass is always tricky. I actually like the part that I have no expectations there,” she said, adding that she would prepare for the tests with coach Tomasz Wiktorows. “He has experience with Aga Radwanska, grass was her favourite surface. Maybe he’s going to give me some tips.”
“I’m going to enjoy playing on grass a little bit more,” Swiatek promised.