Iga Swiatek dominated the match against Danielle Collins in the second round valid for the WTA 500 in Doha, winning with a thunderous 6-0, 6-1. Last year, lga had a formidable season, demonstrating, among many qualities, great consistency, both in the quality of its game and in the results.
At the 2023 Australian Open, she failed to catalyze this great gift of hers, a sign that her invincible armor could have some small cracks, where her rivals could slip into. Swiatek, after th win, explained: “I felt quite confident, I’m happy that I was composed from start to finish, focused and disciplined with tactics.
I never let Danielle get into the rhythm, I wanted to be very aggressive, so I’m glad I did well.” On her serve: “I wouldn’t say I’m underrated, but I’m not the profile of a player who only serves to win points, like Rybakina or Sabalenka.
I’m more of a player who puts the ball inside and wins the point in the rally, but I’m working on my service to improve it more every day. Today I was feeling very good with my serve, the period after Australia helped me focus a lot on mechanics and pace, I think she helped me.
We’ll see what the future has in store for us, maybe after a few games even the halfbacks will become more familiar with my serve.”
The difficulty of being continuous in Wta
She then said: “Conditions have changed, it was a bit windy yesterday, so I had to adapt.
Honestly, the stadium plays much better than on outdoor courts, so it didn’t bother me, even if I can take advantage of the wind at my advantage. Conditions here are always humid, more so than elsewhere, but the surface is safe.
Let’s say this is the first tournament of the season that has a slower surface, so I feel I can run a little more, the pace of the matches is comparable to European events indoors or on clay. Yes, I like the conditions. Only one WTA tournament this week? I don’t know what caused this situation, there were some great players who had to go through the qualifiers and others who weren’t allowed, it’s quite an unfortunate situation.
It would be nice if there was more variety, I’m in the position of knowing I’ll be in every tournament, but not everyone has that privilege. I feel sorry for those most affected, because they too could play this week, earning points and money, but they can’t.
You only need to see how our first round went to understand how tough the draw is, every match is very difficult, but I’d like to have more variety, do another tournament in another city.” Final question on why it’s difficult to be consistent in the WTA: “I don’t know what to answer, three or four years ago there were really consistent players, like Naomi or Bianca.
We’ll see what happens in the future, my goal is to be consistent, it has been until from the beginning. I wish I could keep this high level for a long time, always be in the semifinals and in the final, last season I showed I can do it.
But at the moment I want to get back to balance, I know I won’t win every tournament. As for the other players, I don’t know if anything has changed or not, maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe we have a little more ambitious and stable players, it’s difficult to judge.”
