Iga Swiatek thinks Serena Williams perfectly showed how to use being the No. 1 player as your advantage.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, was a dominant force in the game for two decades.
Swiatek, who is now the face of the women’s game and the most dominant player in the game, is looking at Williams and trying to learn from the American how she used “that pressure and intimidation” of being at the top of the game.
“I feel it. I feel like it’s not every time that I can make use of it. This is the thing that Serena really showed how to do. Because she was at the top for a long time and she was using that pressure and intimidation of being at the top of the game. She used it pretty well to make her matches a little bit easier, especially at the beginning. I feel like I was able to do that a couple of times, but I want to do it more often. So for sure I’m aware of that and I want to try and use it in the right way.”
Swiatek on aiming a Career Grand Slam
On Saturday, Swiatek defeated Ons Jabeur to lift her first US Open title.
Now, Swiatek has two French Open titles and one US Open title.
Swiatek now needs an Australian Open and a Wimbledon title to complete a Career Grand Slam.
“I guess it was always kind of my dream, but still, I’m not going to really focus on it because you can see in tennis that some things happen when you don’t expect them. So I’m just going to learn and focus on the process. But for sure I always said it’s the dream. But I still feel like I need more skills on grass to make it a goal,” Swiatek said.
If nothing unexpected happens, Swiatek will certainly be the top favorite for the Australian Open title in January.