Iga Swiatek after beating Elena Rybakina to become the 1st player in history to win Doha 3 years in a row: “Oh my god guys. You don’t even know hard it was not to think about it. I came here and was pretty stressed because I felt the expectations. I wanted to do everything step…
"Oh my god, you don't even know how hard it was not to think about it": Iga Swiatek was left stressed by Qatar Open potential three peat
WTASaturday, 17 February 2024 at 20:55
Iga Swiatek was in rampant form as she saw off Elena Rybakina in straight sets 7-6, 6-2 to seal the Qatar Open for the third year in a row. But despite not losing a set all week, Swiatek did not come into the tournament confident after losing to Linda Noskova at the Australian Open and thought she was going to lose early on.
She saw off Sorana Cirstea, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Victoria Azarenka and got a bye after Karolina Pliskova withdrew before taking down Rybakina, who this year is the most dominant player by match wins and titles on the tour with the latter alongside Jelena Ostapenko. But she isn't getting too carried away by this latest win saying that there are no goals or titles in mind.
"I thought I'm gonna lose here in second round," Swiatek said. "I wasn't feeling really confident before the tournament. I didn't also have some peaceful time at home to just focus on working, so I wasn't really expecting a lot."
"And then, you know, it felt like if you're going to give 100 percent and work hard, good things may come."
"I wouldn't say, like, one tournament is a specific goal for me, because at the end, I was proud of each of my seasons no matter which tournament I won or what happened," Swiatek said. "You're just happy that you can overcome obstacles and work hard.
"Sometimes the titles are more for Wikipedia than for you, but this season, yeah, I'm just taking it easy step by step and week by week."
But one aspect that does stress Swiatek out was the three time champion tag and winning it three years in a row, she quipped: “Oh my god guys. You don’t even know hard it was not to think about it. I came here and was pretty stressed because I felt the expectations. I wanted to do everything step by step like I always do. I’m really happy. I’m really proud of myself.”
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