Swiatek not 100% fit ahead of China Open, admits feeling 'rusty' in Tokyo after post US Open break

Iga Swiatek revealed that she is not in her best form to face the WTA 1000 China Open.

The World No. 2 suffered an early exit at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, falling to Veronika Kudermetova in the quarterfinals, with the Russian going on to become the champion.

This is another setback for Iga Swiatek following her exit in the US Open's round of 16, where she couldn't defend her 2022 title and relinquished the world No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka.

However, Swiatek remains calm in the face of these recent adverse results, acknowledging the work she still needs to do. The Polish player mentioned that she is aware of the much work that lies ahead, focusing on the offseason to have a great 2024.

“I realized how much work I have to do in pre-season because there are a lot of things I want to improve. My coach also has a good plan. Sometimes it's not possible to do all of that in two weeks. But we kind of started doing it.”

“I don't know how it's going to look on matches obviously, because it's totally different story. I was feeling a little bit rusty in Tokyo because after that reset, after three weeks without playing tournaments, you can feel like that a little bit.”

“But, yeah, it doesn't really matter for me. I'll just do my best no matter what,” she added.

Upon her arrival in Beijing, Swiatek is scheduled to make her debut on Monday against Spanish player Sara Sorribes Tormo (55th) in the first round of the tournament. This will be the last WTA 1000 event of the season, in a year where she hasn't won any titles in that category.

While in 2022 she won four WTA 1000 titles, this year she has lost twice in the final and three times in the semifinals. Swiatek currently holds the second position in the WTA ranking, with over 1000 points separating her from Sabalenka, so she doesn't have a chance to regain the top spot at the moment.