Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek, who is the world’s number one in the WTA rankings, started her participation in the tournament in Doha with the ambition of winning a third title in a row, but she is not thinking about defending the trophy, as she believes that this season the race will be “a completely different story”.
The four-time Grand Slam winner, who is among the favorites for the tournament, told that past editions had no bearing on this.
“I learned from last year that it has nothing to do with defending a title and this is a completely new chapter and a completely different story”, said Iga Swiatek ahead of her debut match against Sorana Cîrstea (Romania). “I’m going to go one step at a time and not think about it. which happened a year or two ago because we’re all at different stages in our lives”, added she. “It will be nice if I can play well here, but I’ve already learned that you can’t expect too much from tennis because it can surprise you”< said the Polish tennis player
Iga Swiatek, who retained her top spot despite Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka‘s win at the Australian Open last month, said she still felt the pressure to be at the top of the rankings.
“I’m still at the top of the WTA and I have to have some standards. Sometimes it’s difficult because you feel like everyone is out to get you”, said the 22-year-old tennis player. “I always try to remind myself that I am the same person no matter what my ranking is and no matter what number is against my name”, concluded Iga Swiatek.
