Iga Swiatek has managed to immediately bounce back from her Australian Open semi-final exit, winning in the first round of the Qatar Open.
Swiatek is the second seed at the 2025 Qatar Open, with the Pole winning her opener against Maria Sakkari.
World number two Swiatek lost to Madison Keys at the Australian Open, with the latter going on to lift the trophy.
But the former world number one returned to winning ways in Doha with a 6-3, 6-2 round of 32 success over Sakkari.
Swiatek has a stunning history at the Qatar Open, having won the title in Doha in each of the last three seasons.
Iga Swiatek not likely to ever throw a racket on court out of anger
And she was unsurprisingly delighted to make it through her opening encounter this time around without any real difficulties, saying in her post-match press conference: “Well, for sure I’m happy with the performance, especially because the conditions are tricky here, but I felt like today the wind was a bit lighter, so I had some time to adjust.
“It’s not easy to play against Maria, especially your first match of a tournament, so I’m happy that I’m through.”
It was then noted that despite the tricky conditions, she has never thrown a racket or something similar due to frustration, with Swiatek saying: “And you won’t probably.”
And asked if she does something specific to reset her mindset and move on to the next point, she replied: “I wouldn’t say there’s a routine because there are many things that can throw you off, you know, and you always have to react differently depending on what the situation looks like.
“For sure there are some things I can do when I’m angry, but I wouldn’t say my anger is kind of, I don’t know, so visible.
“It doesn’t make sense for me to throw the racket, it’s not the racket’s fault, you know, and I always try to kind of give a good example to the kids as well.
“I have been throwing rackets when I was younger, but this is why I do all the mental training, and I try to kind of be a better player to learn how to deal with this stuff.
“I don’t know, there’s no point, I guess, if my mentality bursts with this negative kind of emotions, it’s just better to work on them and to kind of convert them to something positive.”
Iga Swiatek able to control emotions amid recent ATP Tour outbursts
Swiatek definitely has the right approach with her mindset, with many other players often letting their emotions get the better of them.
She does, of course, still get frustrated and angry when things aren’t going her way, but learning to deal with such frustration better has undoubtedly been key to her huge success in her relatively brief career so far.
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Despite being only 23, Swiatek has already reached number one in the WTA rankings, and boasts 22 tour-level titles.
Five of those titles have remarkably come at Grand Slam level, with the Pole having won the last three women’s singles titles at the French Open.
At the other end of the spectrum sit the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Reilly Opelka, with both men’s stars having come under the spotlight lately for angry outbursts on the court.
Opelka is set for disciplinary action after recently criticising umpire Greg Allensworth, while Medvedev had a furious outburst during the Rotterdam Open in reaction to a time violation.
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