Swiatek avoids setting goals for new season as Australian Open looms

Iga Swiatek heads into Melbourne Park with the Australian Open title the only gap on her Grand Slam resume, but the world number two is keen to avoid setting herself targets for the new season and says her main goal is to improve her game.

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The 24-year-old Pole has won majors on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows, the Paris clay and the grass of Wimbledon but has never managed to reach the final at the year's opening Grand Slam, going out twice in the semifinals.

"For now I'm not setting results goals," she told Polish sports news website Sportowy 24 last month.

"I am focusing on developing technically and in terms of my tennis game itself."

Swiatek is renowned for her grit and intensity on tour but the former world number one was forced to revaluate her approach after failing to secure a semifinal spot at the season-ending WTA Finals for a second straight year in November.

She has spoken about the physical and mental toll the punishing tour schedule takes on players and said in Beijing in September that the season was too long and too intense.

Just before Christmas she told Sportowy24 that she felt refreshed after spending more time at home than usual.