Iga Swiatek is trying to stay grounded after she became just the third woman to win the WTA 1000 titles in Madrid and Rome in the same season.
Swiatek claimed her 12th successive win on clay to be crowned the Italian Open champion in Rome on Saturday.
Iga Swiatek staying grounded after huge win
The defending French Open champion and world no 1 is confident heading into Roland Garros but doesn’t want to get ahead of herself.
“Obviously I am confident. I feel like I’m playing great tennis but that doesn’t change the fact that I just want to stay humble,” Swiatek told reporters.
“Grand Slams are different. There’s a different pressure on the court and off the court. Of course I love to come to Paris and be there. It a great place for me to be and I really enjoy my time there.
“But these are a hard seven matches that you need to win so I don’t take anything for granted.”
Swiatek beat Aryna Sabalenka again but felt that this match had different qualities to her victory over the Belarussian star in Madrid.
“For sure this match looked a little bit differently than in Madrid,” Swiatek said. “I felt like I’m putting a lot of pressure. I just continued doing that throughout the whole match. Really proud of myself and really happy.”
Swiatek was delighted to keep her focus and join Dinara Safina and Serena Williams in an elite group of woman to have won the Madrid Open and Rome titles in the same year.
“I kind of knew that if I’m going to work hard and if I’m going to be in the right mindset, this is achievable,” Swiatek said afterward. “I’m happy I was so focused and disciplined throughout the tournament to do that.”
Aryna Sabalenka not feeling her game
World No 2 Sabalenka was disappointed to come up short against her great rival yet again after losing the championship match in Madrid as well.
“I would say the first set I didn’t play well at all. I wasn’t, I don’t know, feeling my game well,” Sabalenka told reporters.
“In the second set I just tried to stay a little bit more aggressive… I just tried to put her a little bit under pressure.
“I had couple of opportunities to break her serve. Probably if I would take that opportunity, the match would go differently. I didn’t use it, so it is how it is.”
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