World No.1 Iga Swiatek has revealed the aspect of Serena Williams' game that she is looking to implement into her own performances on the court.
Last weekend, the 21-year-old became the first Polish woman in history to win the US Open — the same tournament where Williams bid farewell to tennis.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion spent an enormous 319 weeks in total as the world number one and Swiatek is eager to uncover a similar formula to keep herself at the top of the rankings.
"I feel like it’s not every time that I can make use of it [pressure of being at the top],” the new US Open champion told WTATour.com.
“This is the thing that Serena really showed how to do. Because she was at the top for a long time and she was using that pressure and intimidation of being at the top of the game. She used it pretty well to make her matches a little bit easier, especially at the beginning.
“I feel like I was able to do that a couple of times, but I want to do it more often. So for sure I’m aware of that and I want to try and use it in the right way."
Świątek rose to the top of the WTA rankings in April following the retirement of former world number one Ashleigh Barty. She has enjoyed a superb 2022 which saw her win both the French Open and US Open. The Pole also became just the fourth woman to win the Sunshine Double by securing titles at both Indian Wells and the Miami Open.
Winning doesn’t seem to be any cause for concern for Świątek, but her focus is now on making sure she keeps the World No.1 status for as long as possible.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
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