Swiatek feels the heat but she’s grateful for the hype

Iga Swiatek says she has grown accustomed to the high pressure of expectations she shoulders each clay-court season and that she is “grateful” for the public’s “high hopes” for her.

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The world No.2 is the most successful clay-court player of her generation and has won the French Open four times.

By her stratospheric standards, Swiatek is having a sub-par season but she has the chance to turn her year around at the Madrid Open, where she is defending her title this fortnight.

“It's crazy, but people are not aware when they think about other people that we're also human. The expecta-tions for sure are high, but they're high every year for me since 2022,’ Swiatek said on Wednesday at the Caja Magica.

“I’m just trying to keep my job and not really focus on what people say. Honestly, they have no idea what's going on in any of our lives, so if they think some things, they can just think, but it’s not necessarily the truth.