"Wanted to get both my feet on the ground" - Iga Swiatek opens up about how she dealt with Australian Open 2023 exit

Iga Swiatek was the top contender at the 2023 Australian Open, but couldn't get past the fourth round. She recently remarked that on resuming practice after resting for a while, she knew what went wrong Down Under.

The 21-year-old lost to America's Jessica Pegula at the 2023 United Cup, which former World No. 1 Chris Evert believed would serve as a wake-up call. Swiatek then defeated Jule Niemeier, Camila Osorio and Cristina Bucsa, all in straight sets, at Melbourne Park.

However, she lost 6-4, 6-4 to 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the fourth round.

The three-time Grand Slam champion is currently in Doha for the WTA 500 Qatar Open. Speaking at a press conference, Swiatek stated that a reset was required for her after an extraordinary 2022 season.

The World No. 1 added that she wanted to improve upon the technical aspects of her game.

"Exactly what I needed was to reset it a little bit, and I knew what I did wrong at the Australian Open and over my whole stay in Australia," Iga Swiatek said. "I really wanted to focus on getting my expectations lower and not expect from myself that I'm gonna, you know, play perfectly all the time. Because, yeah, last season was so strange, actually, that it can actually mess up with your head a little bit."

"I really wanted to get both my feet on the ground, just focus on hard work and what I have to do on court. I was really happy because we did. I would say even in the last part of the preseason, our practices were really intense and like, the volume was also pretty big. So I feel like I could really focus on the technical stuff and just improve as a player," she added.

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Iga Swiatek surprised herself with the way she played last year

Iga Swiatek won eight titles in 2022

Iga Swiatek won as many as eight singles titles last year, including two WTA 500 tournaments, four WTA 1000 events, and two Grand Slams — the French Open and US Open.

Set to defend her title at the 2023 Qatar Open, the Pole was recently asked if she was surprised with her performance in 2022. Swiatek nodded, saying she didn't expect it to happen so soon.

"Things like that, they don't happen often. I thought that maybe in a few years, I'm going to be that kind of player who is going to be so consistent to be World No. 1, and I wasn't expecting it to happen last year," Swiatek said. "So for sure, I was surprised, but honestly, I wasn't really thinking about that throughout the whole season. I was just doing my job and playing as best as possible, and it happened."