An exhausted Iga Swiatek mentioned she would attempt to “embrace” the stress a bit extra after dropping to Jelena Ostapenko within the fourth spherical of the U.S. Open on Sunday, a defeat which noticed her 75-week run as world primary come to an finish.
Swiatek inherited the highest spot following Ash Barty’s retirement in April 2022 and launched into an excellent run of type within the months that adopted to say three extra Grand Slam titles after her breakthrough French Open success in 2020.
The 22-year-old’s consistency meant solely two different ladies have held the primary rating for extra consecutive weeks of their first stints on the high: Steffi Graf (186) and Martina Hingis (80).
Swiatek knocked out of US Open, set to lose No. 1 rating to Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will take over from Swiatek when the rankings are up to date on September 11 and the Pole instructed reporters her time on the high had been nice.
“On the other hand this last part was pretty exhausting,” she mentioned after her 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Ostapenko.
“Usually I’m not looking at numbers, but overall I love them. I’d love to extend this record a little bit longer. This is something that, when I was younger, I actually wanted to break some record or have something.
“I already did that because I already won a Slam as a first Polish player. Obviously, being number one as the third player in history is great. But for sure, when you lose it there are some sad emotions.”
Swiatek mentioned she has made progress as a participant, however this season has been “really tough and intense”.
“It’s not easy to cope with all of this stuff,” she added.
After dropping to former Roland Garros champion Ostapenko for the fourth straight time, Swiatek mentioned she hoped to return stronger.
“When I’m going to be next time in the same situation, I’m going to do some stuff differently because, it was a little bit stressful, and it shouldn’t be,” Swiatek mentioned.
“Tennis is stressful overall, but I should embrace it a little bit more. I’ll do it differently next time, so I guess that’s positive.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com