World No. 1 Iga Swiatek recently expressed her admiration towards Roger Federer and shared the qualities of the Swiss Maestro that she would want to bring into her own game.
Roger Federer, who bid goodbye to professional tennis this Friday at the 2022 Laver Cup, has received love and appreciation from fellow players and fans all over the world. Iga Swiatek had earlier taken to Twitter to pay tribute to the Swiss' announcement and conveyed her gratitude for all that the 20-time Grand Slam champion has brought to the game.
In a recent interview with Eurosport, Iga Swiatek expanded on the same, mentioning how smooth Federer's movement and technique are on the court. The Pole further added that the way he looks and behaves outside the court also impresses her immensely, noting that she wishes to incorporate all these attributes into her own game some day.
" Roger is a class in itself, in terms of movement, technique and how it behaves outside the court. I am generally impressed by the smoothness of his movements and how majestic he looks. These are things that I admire immensely, but I don't know if I will be able to introduce them to my game myself. I will try, but we will see," she said.
"The fact that I lost in the third round in Toronto and Cincinnati allowed me to lower my expectations" - Iga Swiatek on her mental struggl coming into the US Open
The reigning US Open champion also opened up about her struggles before entering Flushing Meadows during the interview. Iga Swiatek recalled how she struggled with the tournaments prior to the US Open with successive third-round losses in Toronto and the Cincinnati Open, which made her doubt her abilities and lower her expectations for the final Major of the year.
The World No. 1 expressed her discomfort with playing on the fast courts in New York and how she came to terms with making more errors on the court, revealing that she convinced herself to simply go out there and do her best without focusing on her mistakes.
"Earlier tournaments and the fact that I lost in the third round in Toronto and Cincinnati allowed me to lower my expectations. At the beginning of this second part of the season, I actually felt that I had to play the same as in the first," Swiatek said.
"Later I realized that it makes no sense to go back to the past. I focused on what I can do here and now. In New York, I accepted that maybe on these courts I will not always feel one hundred percent comfortable, that there will be some mistakes on the fast surface, but I focused on, to work it out best and draw conclusions," she added.
Who Are Roger Federer's Kids? Know All About Federer's Twins