"I'm not thinking about Aryna Sabalenka when practicing": Iga Swiatek dismisses Belarusian's approach as she discusses impact of rivalry

Iga Swiatek recently gave her thoughts on how much Aryna Sabalenka and the other top players have motivated her to improve her game.

The Pole turned in a comprehensive performance against the second-seeded Sabalenka in their title clash at the Madrid Open on Saturday (May 4), winning 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7) in three hours and 11 minutes. With her victory, the Pole also exacted revenge on the Belarusian for her defeat in their last year's final at La Caja Magica.

The rivalry between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka has become quite a fierce one over the past year. In that context, the WTA Insider podcast's Courtney Nguyen saw fit to let Swiatek know during their interview the following day that the World No. 2 admittedly thinks about matching her level during her workouts.

"Aryna has been very vocal the last few years about how trying to chase you down has helped her improve. She thinks about you when she's doing hard workouts, things like that. What are things that you have improved on just because you have to play these players all the time?" Courtney Nguyen asked (6:03).

While the World No. 1 was quick to dismiss any suggestions about seeing Sabelenka in a similar light, she did admit that the entire WTA field as a whole does inspire her to level up.

"Well, I wouldn't say I have this vision like she has. I'm not thinking about her when I'm practicing or something," Iga Swiatek said (6:30). "It's more that I know that the competition is big. And I know if I'm gonna stop for a while, I might be pushed out, you know?"

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Iga Swiatek on the match that motivates her: "When I was doing the worst practices on the court... I was actually thinking about that game"

Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek after their 2023 WTA Finals clash

During the interaction, Iga Swiatek claimed that her 2022 Italian Open final win over Ons Jabeur, which marked her 28th consecutive win that year, was one of the matches she reminisces about on the days when motivation is hard to find.

"I had this kind of thing actually in the Rome 2022 final against Ons...Physically, I was, like, 'Oh my god!' I was so tired. Rallies were long. Ons was playing a pretty tricky game, you had to run different directions and everything," Iga Swiatek said (6:52). "So that game, for the next few years when I was doing the worst practices on the court or airbike or whatever and I was dying, I was actually thinking about that game."

The 22-year-old then reiterated how she doesn't share the same sentiment about any of her past 10 clashes against Aryna Sabalenka

"So, this was that kind of moment that Aryna may be talking about. But I didn't have that with her," she said (7:36). "It's more like you feel competition is big, and we have to push for more."

Swiatek leads Sabalenka by a margin of 7-3 in their head-to-head meetings on the women's tour. While the Belarusian has won their matches at the 2023 Madrid Open and the WTA Finals in 2021-22, she has played second fiddle for most of the rivalry.

The two players also faced off for the year-end World No. 1 position in the semifinals of last year's WTA Finals in Cancun. The Pole came through with relative ease, winning the match 6-3, 6-2 en route to clinching her maiden year-end championships.