Iga Swiatek now admits the ‘mistake’ she made in 2024 that she has addressed for this year’s Australian Open

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Iga Swiatek is searching for her first title down under at this year’s Australian Open.

Melbourne Park hasn’t been the most fruitful venue for the Polish WTA star during her career to date.

Swiatek lost in the third round of last year’s Australian Open to Linda Noskova and has made it past the fourth round in just one of her six attempts since debuting in 2019.

She got off to a strong start this year, however, as Swiatek beat Katerina Siniakova, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round.

The Pole was even more dominant in her second-round match, as Swiatek advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-2, victory over Rebecca Sramkova.

After the match, Swiatek shared a key change she made during the off-season that has helped her at this year’s first Grand Slam tournament.

Iga Swiatek says not having a hitting partner in 2024 was a ‘mistake’ she addressed for the Australian Open

In her post-match press conference, Swiatek was asked about her decision to add a hitting partner in 2025, having not used one the year before.

“Well, honestly it was logistics a bit because my hitting partner that I always worked with, he had some injury,” she said.

“He didn’t play for some time, we were just, okay, well, we’ll go without, we’ll use the tournament hitting partner.

“But this year we realized that this might be, you know, something to change, because obviously I didn’t go well last two years here.

“We thought we’ll do everything to have as much comfort as possible during the tournament.”

The five-time Major champion thinks the move has already proved worthwhile.

“I think already it’s paid off, because with this rain and sometimes just having, like, 20 minutes to hit or something, having a hitting partner who you can tell, like, what do I want, I don’t know, more topspin, flat ball, it really adds more quality to the practices,” said Swiatek.

“When you play with other players who basically just play it down the middle or cross-court, serve, returns, and that’s it, but with the hitting partner, you can work on some specific stuff.”

With the move paying off, Swiatek is well aware that she made an error last year.

“So I should have done that last year as well, so it’s not like it’s a big change since I’m having hitting partner on every tournament basically now,” she said.

“Last year, yeah, that was a mistake for sure.

“After last year I knew I should have taken the hitting partner, so we didn’t do this mistake again.”

Her decision certainly looks to have been a successful one, as Swiatek performed brilliantly in her second round match against Sramkova.

The former world number one dropped just two games as she booked her place in the third round.

Iga Swiatek set for Grand Slam champion clash with Emma Raducanu in third round

Up next for Swiatek is Emma Raducanu who beat Amanda Anisimova in her second-round match earlier on Thursday.

The 2021 US Open champion is also yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament and will be hoping to advance to the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time in her career.

Saturday’s contest will see two former Grand Slam winners go head-to-head, although they aren’t the only Major champions left in the draw.

Naomi Osaka reached a Grand Slam third round for the first time since 2022, with her win over Karolina Muchova on Wednesday.

The Japanese star is the most successful player at Major tournaments after Swiatek, and looks to have found form at the perfect time in 2025.

It remains to be seen how Osaka, Swiatek, Raducanu, and the rest of the Grand Slam winners left in the women’s draw get on at this year’s Australian Open, but they’ll all no doubt be hoping to add another Major trophy to their collection later this month.

Swiatek and Raducanu will face off for a place in the fourth round on Saturday, January 18.