Iga Swiatek has stated her goal of winning a medal at the Olympic Games, but she has stressed that she thinks it will be a difficult task.
Swiatek is one of the most successful active players on the WTA Tour. The 22-year-old already has four Grand Slam titles to her name and held the position of World No. 1 in the WTA Ranking for 75 weeks, which is the tenth-longest amount of time in history.
Although she recently lost the top spot in the rankings to Aryna Sabalenka, she has said that her focus is on winning tournaments and titles, including a medal at the Olympic Games. However, the Polish player also admitted that the event taking place in the middle of the Tour's schedule means it will not be the easiest to prepare for.
The Olympics will take place in the summer of next year on the Roland Garros courts in Paris. Whilst it could be helpful for players to compete on a court that they already know well, factors such as the climate will be different at that time of year and players will also have participated in Wimbledon before returning to France.
In a recent interview with Eurosport Poland, Swiatek discussed the Games and why she is trying to be realistic about the challenges they pose.
"The Games, of course, are a priority, but it will be difficult to be in the optimal form specifically for this competition. If I wanted to do that, the preparation period would have to start during Roland Garros. (...) The calendar is very tight, and I have many important tournaments in front of me," she said.
Swiatek also stressed that the Olympics were not her only priority for next season as she aims for more Grand Slam and WTA Tour titles.
"There is no point in thinking about it since the beginning of the season. After all, along the way we have the Australian Open, important events in the United States or Roland Garros. It is not that I practice a discipline in which the most important are the world championships and the games," she continued.
A brief summary of Iga Swiatek's interview on @Eurosport_PL (via @DawidZbik). 🎙️🇵🇱 🔹 She does not consider her elimination in the R4 at the US Open a failure. She said: "It can happen... Last year, I almost lost in R4 as well. Sometimes you can get over it, and sometimes you…
