By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday February 24, 2022
It has been a rather impressive two months for Poland’s Iga Swiatek. The 20-year-old has already reached the semi-finals at three of the four events she has played – including the Australian Open – and she’ll bid for her first final of the season on Friday against Maria Sakkari of Greece in Doha.
Swiatek is 12-3 on the young season with six Top-30 wins to her name.
It has been a year of transition for Swiatek, who started working with coach Tomasz Witkorowski after parting ways with Piotr Sierzputowski after last season. And the transition has been smooth.
Swiatek says that she feels she is improved this year because she is embracing the aggressive side of her game, and cultivating her confidence.
“I think the key is, you know, I knew that I'm developing step by step over the past few years my game on hard court,” she said on Thursday after notching a big win over World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka. “But these past months, when I changed coaches and when I changed my approach towards my tennis, were really helpful, because right now I'm beginning my matches with more confident approach and just, you know, looking forward, not being sometimes scared.”
Swiatek seems to really resonate with the attack mentality. but she also feels like she has more variety and options to her game this year. It seems to be the best of both worlds for the Pole.
“I'm just, you know, really – I want to attack, and I want to be aggressive,” The World No.8 said. “So I'm really happy that Tomasz, he's been getting me that way, and he's been putting a lot of confidence in that. After a few tries, I also started to put the confidence in that, so right now I can see the results.
"And I feel like I have more variety right now. It's always good to have that, because earlier when I played with experienced players, I always could feel that they have, you know, something, they have like an ace, you know, that they can put on the table. And here, from the beginning of the season, I feel like I have some of these aces, as well. I can just choose the proper one for the right match, you know.”