Iga Swiatek’s coach Tomasz Wiktorowski has claimed he is “happy” with the world No 1’s start to the 2024 season – despite what he described as some “weaker moments.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion has proven the woman to beat on the WTA Tour once again this season, with two WTA 1000 victories – in Indian Wells and Doha – under her belt.
The 22-year-old was also unbeaten at the United Cup at the beginning of the year, but she has also suffered some surprise losses.
Swiatek was beaten by Linda Noskova in the third round of the Australian Open and suffered defeats to Anna Kalinskaya and Ekaterina Alexandrova in Dubai and Miami respectively.
Witkorowski highlighted her losses to Kalinskaya and Alexandrova as Swiatek’s lowest points of the season.Speaking to Fakt, he said: “There was the United Cup, included in the WTA 500 group, and five singles matches won against strong rivals. So I’m definitely happy with that. However, there were also two weaker moments – in Dubai and Miami.In this case [the Australian Open], it should be noted that the opponent played a very good match. Of course, it wasn’t Iga’s best performance, but you have to be objective.
“Linda Noskova is capable of a lot and she proves it in individual matches. This was the case in Melbourne.
“From my perspective, the weaker moments were the matches in Miami and Dubai. However, if we lost two matches and twenty-odd wins, including a dozen or so games played at a really high level, then overall I am still satisfied.”
Despite tough losses in Melbourne, Miami, and Dubai – and her loss to Elena Rybakina in Stuttgart last weekend – Swiatek is still top of the race to reach the WTA Finals in Riyadh.She has accumulated 3,335 ranking points so far this season, with Rybakina in second place and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in third.And Wiktorowski believes this is the clearest example of how solid her 2024 has been to date.
He added: “If there are any doubts, it is worth assessing from the ranking level, because the ranking determines the sports level.
“If we look at it, I think it looks good. Especially since this is the moment when you can look at the WTA Race ranking. Because the one [in the official WTA Rankings] in the first two or three months is still inadequate.
“I like the Race ranking because it’s like in Formula 1. You start from scratch, and the ranking shows where you are at a given moment of the year.
“It’s looking good at the moment. I’m happy with these, basically, three tournament wins.”two ‘weaker moments’ as he assesses 2024 campaign
Iga Swiatek’s coach identifies two ‘weaker moments’ as he assesses 2024 campaign