Iga Świątek recalls a bitter lesson. “It was a cold shower”
Iga Świątek has been achieving many successes in tennis since her junior days. One event changed her perspective on great victories. “It was a cold shower,” she recalls.
Iga Świątek is currently the best tennis player in the world. She has been the leader of the WTA ranking for 110 weeks, and after winning against Petra Martić, she has a series of 21 victories in a row. The Polish woman’s road to the top was very long and winding, as she recalls in an interview with PAP.
Iga Świątek remembers a bitter lesson
The fact that Iga Świątek is talented could be seen already in the junior competitions. In 2018, the Raszynianka won the Grand Slam Wimbledon in singles and the French Open in doubles with Catherine McNally.
In an interview with PAP, Iga Świątek admitted that her triumph at the junior Wimbledon taught her a lesson that she would remember for the rest of her life. The tennis player admitted that after such a great success, nothing in her life had changed. “There were a lot of journalists at the airport, interviews, a few people recognized me in the city, congratulated me, but after two weeks everything went back to normal,” she told PAP.
– In a way, it was a cold shower. It was about understanding that the moment of victory is great, it lasts for some time, but then new challenges come and you forget about it – she admitted.
This disappointed Iga Świątek
At the time, Iga Świątek was also disappointed that the victory did not guarantee her a financial cushion to continue her development. “I thought that winning the junior Grand Slam would make me feel safe in that respect, and it didn’t. It was a bit disappointing,” she continued.
Wimbledon juniors’ victory is not reflected in the senior game, where the furthest she has reached the quarterfinals in this Grand Slam tournament was in 2023. “I try to make people aware that it’s not like if I won Wimbledon juniors, my game on grass looks great or it should be easy for me to play on it. Junior tennis is completely different,” she concluded.