Swiatek hoping to meet, thank Barty
Joel Gould |
World No.1 Iga Swiatek hopes to catch up with Ash Barty this week to tell the retired tennis champion what an inspiration she has been in her own journey to the top.
The 21-year-old Polish star famously said in April she cried for 40 minutes after former world No.1 Barty announced her retirement in March at the age of 25, just two months after winning the Australian Open.
“When Ash retired, I felt mixed emotions because I felt like she still had the best tennis out there,” Swiatek said in Brisbane on Wednesday.
“Maybe this week we are going to be able to meet and I’m going to say it straight to her.
“She really inspired me to work harder and her different game-style made me realise that there is always room for improvement.”
Swiatek, speaking ahead of the United Cup teams event, said she was “super proud” of herself for taking over the mantle as No.1.
Barty’s retirement may have eased the way, but this year Swiatek has won the French Open for the second time and triumphed at the US Open, proving she deserved the ranking.
“At first I felt like I wasn’t sure if this is kind of my place to be,” she said.
“Ash seemed like a huge role model for everybody in terms of her behaviour on court but also off court. She really set the bar pretty high, so I need to show it to people, but also show it to myself, that I’m in the right place.
“I feel like a huge satisfaction, because I have been working my whole life to get to this point. I didn’t really think it’s possible for me.”
Getting to the top is hard enough but Swiatek said staying there would require her to set new benchmarks and not dwell on what she had achieved when 2023 rolls around.
“I’m going to try to kind of cut off everything that happened (in the) last year and just focus on the future,” she said.
“For sure all these press conferences are going to kind of remind me of everything, but my goal is to…try to improve as a tennis player.”
Swiatek and the Poland team will contest the inaugural United Cup, which starts on Thursday. Poland have to wait until Saturday for their first hit out against Kazakhstan.
“I’m pretty excited that even when I had such a nice season, this year I can do some different stuff and participate in events like that,” Swiatek said.
AAP
