“Waste of energy to focus on points and rankings” – Iga Swiatek not prioritizing WTA standings after breaching 11,000-mark with Italian Open crowning

Iga Swiatek has claimed to not prioritize her WTA ranking as she breached the 11,000 points mark with the Italian Open crowning. She defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final held at Foro Italico on Saturday, May 18.

Swiatek saved all the seven break points that Sabalenka created and, in turn, broke the Belarusian four times. The two played for a total of 111 points out of which the Pole won 66 to secure a 6-2, 6-3 win in 90 minutes.

With the win, the World No. 1 extended her head-to-head lead over Sabalenka to 8-3. Also, she took her ranking points tally to a staggering 11,695 with the triumph, steering more than 3,500 points clear of Sabalenka in the second place in world rankings.

It is notably the second time in her career that Iga Swiatek has crossed 11,000 points. She first did that in November 2022. During her post-match press in Rome on Saturday, however, she claimed getting over chasing points and worrying about her position in the WTA tally. She said:

"I would say that this year I'm less focused on rankings and points compared to last year. I felt like last year I needed to, I didn't play Miami, so I felt like I needed always to chase. Even though I was first, I felt like I have somebody behind my back.

"But this year, I just feel like I can focus on myself and not really think about that because, honestly, focusing on rankings is never helpful, I would say. There are plenty of things to focus on that we need to spend our energy for, that is just a waste of energy to focus on points and rankings."

---

Iga Swiatek: "No point to overanalyze, I leave that to my coach a little bit"

Iga Swiatek with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.

Iga Swiatek has occupied the top place in the women's singles rankings for every week since April 4, 2022, except for the eight weeks between September 11 and November 5 last year when Aryna Sabalenka took over.

It happened largely because the Pole faltered against Jelena Ostapenko in the pre-quarterfinals of the 2023 US Open as the defending champion whereas Sabalenka earned a finalist finish. She notably regained her place by clinching the Year-end championship.

During the same presser at Foro Italico on Saturday, Iga Swiatek talked about always having an opportunity to bounce back despite a poor showing at some tournament, revealing that looking after the statistics in her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski's territory.

"Last year also showed me that it doesn't matter even if I'm going to have a couple of worse tournaments, I can play another tournament well, like WTA Finals, that I haven't played that well before. No point to overanalyze, I leave that to my coach a little bit. He's the one looking at these stats, point," the 22-year-old said.

Iga Swiatek will start her 104th week as the women's World No. 1 on Monday, May 20.