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Iga Swiatek will take on Sofia Kenin in her opener at the 2024 Australian Open, in what will only be the second meeting between the duo on the WTA Tour. Their first meeting came in the final of the French Open in 2020, where Swiatek prevailed in straight sets in her maiden Grand Slam championship bout.
Speaking in her pre-tournament press conference in Melbourne on Friday, the World No. 1 admitted that it was pretty "weird" to see how different her and Kenin's respective journeys have been since then.
While Swiatek was unseeded in Roland Garros back then and Kenin was the fourth seed, the Pole will be the top seed at the Australian Open this year while facing the unseeded 25-year-old in the first round. The 22-year-old has also added three more Slams to her kitty, while Kenin, hit with injuries, has not reached a single Major quarterfinal since then.
Regardless of those differences, Iga Swiatek did not want to take the American lightly, stating that Kenin has been playing some "solid" tennis in recent months and that she will try to prepare as best for the clash as possible.
"I mean, it kind of strikes me sometimes that we played my first Grand Slam final was against Sofia and now we're playing in the first round. It's pretty weird. That's how our life journeys kind of went apart," Iga Swiatek said.
"I know she's been playing some solid tennis. She was playing in Abu Dhabi. It's not going to be easy. I'll just get prepared the same way as usual. We're going to talk about the tactics. Yeah, we haven't played in a while, so I have to kind of see how she's playing right now. That's all," she added.
"I don't feel like it impacts me" - Iga Swiatek on new Australian Open scheduling including an extra day
The Australian Open has also introduced a new scheduling system from this year, with the tournament now lasting 15 days (starting on Sunday) instead of the usual 14 (starting on Monday).
Iga Swiatek, however, did not think it was going to make any difference for her personally, as she was still scheduled to play her first match on either Monday or Tuesday. According to officials, the introduction of the extra day will help with reducing late-night delays during the first round, with matches now spread across three days.
"I don't feel like it impacts me because I think I'm supposed to play Monday or Tuesday. I mean, the system was on Roland Garros for a couple of years now. It was fine for me. It makes sense. I mean, I think schedule-wise it's going to be a little bit easier for the tournament to finish matches earlier," Iga Swiatek said, via the aforementioned source.
"Yeah, at the end it's just the first day, then the tournament goes back to normal after these Sunday matches. People have two days off, then it goes back to normal. It doesn't really matter," she added.
