Iga Swiatek was knocked out of the
Australian Open by
Elena Rybakina, former Wimbledon champion, and her remarks at the press
conference have sparked positive feedback.
The World No. 1 was honest about what was going
through her mind during the match: “I felt the pressure, and I felt that I don’t
want to lose instead of I want to win. So that’s I think, a base of what I should
focus on in the next couple of weeks.”
Seven-time Grand Slam champion
Mats Wilander compared
it to
Naomi Osaka's honesty in recent years regarding her mental health:
“Naomi Osaka was applauded for coming out (about her mental
health) and she won four majors. She came out after the fourth Grand Slam and said she
has mental health issues and that was applauded in every was. But we never
really knew whu, was it the pressure or (something else).”
“Sometimes you play to not lose and sometimes you play
to win, it’s just the way it is. We have to forget about
Roger Federer, Rafa
Nadal,
Novak Djokovic,
Serena Williams. These people are superhuman.”, said the Swede.
“Iga Swiatek is not there
yet, but I think she’s on the right path, it’s a healthy outlook and she’s
being honest and can talk about it.”
There were other experts
who spoke about Swiatek's sincerity, such as journalist Laura Robson: “That is
such a huge thing for players to speak about,”. Además agregó que “To
have someone come out and say she was playing with this fear in her head, makes
such a difference... she can work on that and hopefully we won’t see that so
much in the future from her.”
The Eurosport journalist Tim
Henmann also agreed with Wilander and
Robson: “she travels with a psychologist and the reality is you’ve got to think
about the process.”
“If you can get your mind
to think about her great serve and forehand and how you want to play, then you’re
not going to be thinking about the outcome.”
For the moment, the
Polish will not see the first position of the WTA threatened, since she has
more than double the points of
Ons Jabeur, number 2 in the world.