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Ahead of the 2023 WTA Finals, Iga Swiatek expressed feeling the pressure, saying that people expect her to always win. She said that the expectations have weighed heavy on her shoulders this season.
Second-seed Swiatek will face seventh-seed Marketa Vondrousova in her opener at the year-end championships in Cancun on Monday, October 30. The Pole does not have the best memories of playing in the WTA Finals in Mexico, having ended her campaign in tears in Guadajalara two years ago.
During a press conference at the 2023 WTA Finals, the reigning French Open champion said she often felt the pressure of expectations as people had grown accustomed to her winning.
"Yeah, for sure sometimes I felt like it's just kind of ridiculous because people got used to me winning. It's not like it's going to happen all the time. So I think this season was kind of more normal, I would say, like most of the seasons we play, for even the top players," Iga Swiatek said (via WTA Tennis).
"I think the main thing that I want to avoid is forgetting that this was also a good season and I still won some great tournaments. I won a Grand Slam, so," she added.
Elaborating further, Iga Swiatek said that the pressure to win hindered her progress this season and that she was trying to overcome it.
"For sure, comparing everything to 2020, I can kind of tell you pretty confidently that I may not have a season like that again, but I'm going to do my best," said Swiatek.
"For sure the expectations from the outside, it was the thing that really sometimes stopped me this season. I'm going to work on not letting it stop me this time," she added.
"History shows that it's not about who's the favorite" - Iga Swiatek on past winners at WTA Finals
During an interview at the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, World No. 2 Iga Swiatek was asked about her chances, given she is one of the favorites to win the tournament.
In response, the four-time Grand Slam champion opined that any player could win the tournament.
"Well, I don't think in that categories because on the other hand you can always say first two seeds are going to be the favorites, or the first seed," Swiatek said.
"But honestly, so many things can happen this week. Overall in any tennis tournament, I stop thinking that way. I think any one of us can win this tournament," she added.
Adding to that, Iga Swiatek listed previous winners of the WTA Finals who weren't necessarily the favorites. She named Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who won the event last year, and Garbine Muguruza, who won it in 2021.
"I mean, Cara Garcia last year, I don't know if she was fourth. She wasn't in the top three I think, and she still won. Same with Muguruza in Guadalajara. History shows that it's not about who's the favorite," Swiatek concluded.
