Focusing on rankings 'a waste of energy' says Iga Swiatek despite breaching 11,000 points with Rome Open win

Sunday, 19 May 2024 at 08:33

Iga Swiatek has admitted to not being bothered about WTA Ranking milestones calling them a 'waste of energy' despite reaching a new milestone in winning the Rome Open on Saturday afternoon.

Swiatek breached the 11,000 points mark for the first time and is now 3,500 points clear of Sabalenka in second place. So even if she dropped the Roland Garros title off her tally this time, she wouldn't lose top spot thus has been the dominance of the Pole.

As a result, it is not a huge shock that she isn't worrying about this part of her game as she doesn't need to. But for Swiatek, chasing points and also worrying about her position in the rankings is something she has done previously. But not nowadays.

She defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the Rome Open 6-2, 6-3 in 90 minutes to extend her lead and she now heads into her 108th week as World No.1 as of tomorrow. A run that was perhaps under threat during the start of the 2024 season has seen her firmly slam the door in her rivals face. But while she doesn't worry about it, her coach does with Swiatek leaving that side of the game to him.

Read also

In our Daily Dose of Social Media: Are Tsitsidosa back on, Sabalenka jousts with umpire, Federer and Nadal in heartwarming campaign

"I would say that this year I'm less focused on rankings and points compared to last year. I felt like last year I needed to, I didn't play Miami, so I felt like I needed always to chase. Even though I was first, I felt like I have somebody behind my back.

"But this year, I just feel like I can focus on myself and not really think about that because, honestly, focusing on rankings is never helpful, I would say. There are plenty of things to focus on that we need to spend our energy for, that is just a waste of energy to focus on points and rankings."

"Last year also showed me that it doesn't matter even if I'm going to have a couple of worse tournaments, I can play another tournament well, like WTA Finals, that I haven't played that well before. No point to overanalyze, I leave that to my coach a little bit. He's the one looking at these stats, point," the 22-year-old said.