"Novak Djokovic is a great example" - Iga Swiatek details how Serb influenced her to make 'short-term sacrifices' for long-term gains

Iga Swiatek expressed willingness to make small sacrifices in her career as long as they led to success. The Pole also insisted that she hardly makes a bad decision since she tends to give every situation a pensive thought.

Swiatek has enjoyed a good season on the WTA Tour so far in 2024, winning five titles and accumulating a 55-7 win/loss record. The 23-year-old didn't compete for nearly two months, though, choosing to rest following a quarterfinal exit at the US Open.

During her time away from tennis, Iga Swiatek split with her long-time coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, replacing him with fellow Pole Wim Fissette. Moreover, she surrendered the World No. 1 position to her rival Aryna Sabalenka at the end of October, having dropped 120 WTA ranking points due to her failure to play enough mandatory 500-level tournaments.

In that context, the four-time Major winner was asked to speak on her mindset ahead of her campaign at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She replied that it was "much harder" for her to make the above decisions a few years ago, before citing Novak Djokovic as an example of how experienced pros missed smaller tournaments to focus on winning the big titles.

"I'm an over-thinker. If I make a decision, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a good one. So basically I trust myself in that way," Iga Swiatek told the media in Riyadh. "For sure it was much harder, like, couple of years ago to make these kind of decisions. Now I feel like I know a bit more. Probably in the future I'm going to have to also make some decisions.

"You can see the most experienced players on tour, they are a bit older, skipping some tournaments, but actually being able to play their best games on Grand Slams, the biggest events that they really care about. I think like Novak, for example, is a great example of that. We can learn from people like that."

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Iga Swiatek gets off to winning start at WTA Finals, to take on Coco Gauff next

Iga Swiatek celebrates during WTA Finals 2024

Iga Swiatek's WTA Finals defense looked in peril on Sunday (November 3), as she fell behind by a set against Barbora Krejcikova. However, she launched a comeback soon after to win her opener by a scoreline of 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

The World No. 2 will next face third-seeded Coco Gauff in the round-robin stage later on Tuesday. While Swiatek leads their head-to-head by a margin of 11-1, the young American will certainly pose a challenge to her on the indoor hardcourts of Riyadh.

If Iga Swiatek wins her second match, she will have a chance to top her group when she takes on Jessica Pegula. She will most likely end the 2024 season in second place in the singles rankings, as Aryna Sabalenka, who leads her by more than 1,000 points in the WTA rankings, is currently one match-win away from locking down her first year-end World No. 1 finish.