Iga Swiatek’s efforts to complete the career Grand Slam this year came to a crushing end earlier today, as she was knocked out of the Australian Open by Elena Rybakina.
It was another supreme, lethal performance from the 2023 runner-up, with her ferocious serve and explosive power proving far too much for the former world number one.
She will now face Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals, whilst Iga Swiatek will likely rush to regroup with her team and figure out exactly what went wrong.
However, speaking in her post-match press conference, she was actually able to point out, particularly in the second set, where she lost the match.
Iga Swiatek explains why she lost to Elena Rybakina
Swiatek first admitted: “Well, for sure I didn’t serve as well as, I don’t know, in Cincinnati, for example, against Elena. My serve was kind of normal, and sometimes it could have gave me a bit more.
“As I said, like in first set I think it was a difference of a couple points. She also, I thought, gave me some chances on her serve, and sometimes I used them. Sometimes it was, like, 30-All and, for example, I missed one return. You know, I wanted to be aggressive on the second serve, so sometimes, yeah, will make mistakes. But if you want to break, you need to make it in in the moment like that.”
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However, that all changed in the second set, as Swiatek noted: “Then in the second set I thought, I don’t know, that the pace from her got a little bit even higher, and she was more precise, and maybe I dropped the intensity at the beginning especially.
“But it’s, like, I have some stuff I want to work on. It’s never been so, like, flawless for me playing on these courts, as they are fast, you know? I guess I’ll try next time, anyway.”
Swiatek matched an all-time Serena Williams record earlier this week, so it is disappointing to see her come crashing down after such a great high.
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Whilst Carlos Alcaraz has spoken regularly about winning the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open this year, Swiatek has instead been coy whenever the topic emerged.
In fact, she massively downplayed expectations just last month, as she admitted when asked about her aspirations: “I’ve got to say that most of the amazing things that happen in my career happened when I wasn’t really expecting them and wasn’t really focusing on them.
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“I’m not that kind of person that imagines myself with the trophy or something. I don’t think it would give me a lot of discipline in terms of the work, so I think I’d rather focus on the process.”
Swiatek has now exited in the quarter-finals, whilst the confident and open Alcaraz is into the semi-finals.
It seems that his approach to the career Grand Slam is working thus far.
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