Iga Świątek reveals how Novak Djokovic inspired her to make “short-term sacrifices” for long-term success.
Iga Świątek reveals how Novak Djokovic inspired her to make “short-term sacrifices” for long-term success.
Iga Świątek expressed her willingness to make small sacrifices in her career as long as they lead to success. The Polish star also assured that she rarely makes poor decisions because she tends to carefully think through each situation.
Świątek has had a strong season on the 2024 WTA Tour so far, winning five titles and achieving a 55-7 win-loss record. However, the 23-year-old took almost two months off from competition, choosing to rest after her quarterfinal loss at the US Open.
During her break from tennis, Iga Świątek parted ways with her longtime coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, replacing him with Wim Fissette. Additionally, at the end of October, she lost the world No. 1 spot to her rival Aryna Sabalenka, dropping 120 points in the WTA ranking due to not meeting the requirement of playing enough 500-level tournaments.
In this context, the four-time Major winner was asked about her mindset ahead of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She responded that a few years ago, it was “much harder” for her to make such decisions and cited Novak Djokovic as an example of how experienced pros skip smaller tournaments to focus on winning major titles.
“I overthink things. When I make a decision, I’m almost sure it will be a good one. So that’s basically how I trust myself,” Iga Świątek told the media in Riyadh. “For sure, a few years ago, it was much harder to make such decisions. Now I feel like I know a bit more. Probably in the future, I’ll need to make certain decisions as well.”
“You see the most experienced players on tour, they’re a bit older, they skip some tournaments, but they can play their best matches at Grand Slams and the biggest events that really matter to them. I think, for example, of Novak, who’s a perfect example of that. We can learn from people like him.”
