Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) – Energetic Iga Swiatek on Wednesday vowed to go all-out in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, with the world number one unwilling to moderate her packed WTA tournament schedule.
Swiatek, who won the title in Doha last month before her shock semi-final exit in Dubai, said she still wants to play “everything” in a bid to be ready for the Games starting on July 26.
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“Some voices on my team are telling me to maybe play smarter and miss some events, focus on the important ones, maybe not rush for (ranking) points,” the top seed said on opening day at the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters.
“I thought about that, but I still want to play everything at this stage,” the 22-year-old Pole said.
“It would be hard for me to decide to miss tournaments and take time to be fresh and recover.
“I may do that later but (for now) I want to be ready for the Olympics and other important tournaments.”
Swiatek admitted in Dubai that she was “out of power and tired” in her semi-final loss to 40th-ranked Anna Kalinskaya, a defeat that ended her seven-match winning streak.
But she insisted she doesn’t feel the need to lighten her schedule.
“I think I can handle paying a lot of tournaments,” Swiatek said.
“I don’t want to miss any opportunities.
“Maybe when I get smarter with experience, but I really like all these events, especially on clay.
I would not be comfortable missing anything right now.”
As the top seed Swiatek has a bye into the second round at Indian Wells and will open against the winner from Erika Andreeva and American Danielle Collins, who is playing out her career this season.
Swiatek, who was the champion in the California desert in 2022, defeated Collins in the Australian Open second round before crashing out in the third to unseeded Czech Linda Noskova.
© 2024 AFP
