By Ciara Hancox
Iga Świątek has a massive forehand. It’s got spin, speed and placement. This was perhaps best showcased in her United Cup mixed doubles match in January, where she was hitting winners against some of the finest the ATP have to offer without blinking. Her average (73 mph) and top-speed forehands (79 mph) in the 2020 French Open were faster than anyone else’s on the WTA and everyone on the ATP besides Jannik Sinner. The forehand is undoubtedly one of the biggest strengths in her game: but I would argue it isn’t the strongest. I don’t even think it’s her backhand down the line, or her sliding movement around the court, or her ability to bagel an absurd amount of players on the WTA tour.
It’s that she’s an introvert. It’s something she uses to her advantage every chance she gets.
Introversion is a difficult word to define exactly. Some introverts would describe themselves as simply preferring their own company and needing to recharge alone rather than with friends. Other introverts find socialising a real challenge and may resent their difficulty to make conversation, wishing that they were more suited to a world that is built by and for extroverts. Świątek described herself as the latter in The Players’ Tribune last year, where she said that, as a teenager, she used to stay up all night dreaming of feeling more comfortable socially rather than picturing a successful future tennis career.
It isn’t a story we often hear from athletes. We’re used to stories where they first picked up a racquet the moment they left the womb. Stories where they knew they were destined to win a World Cup at three years old. Stories where they spent every waking moment of their childhood at their local running track so that one day, they’d take Olympic gold. Okay, those may be exaggerations, but most athletes seem to be in a constant competition of who wants it the most and has done for the longest time.
Świątek purposefully turns that expectation on its head when she speaks about her childhood. She admits that she never dreamed of being a tennis player, that it was instead her father’s dream for her when she was young. How many athletes will admit that they sometimes had to be coaxed into practising when they were ten? Of course, as she matured, that fire and fight that her father had been carrying for her passed itself down and she is now one the most disciplined and hardworking professional athletes in the world. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be world number one.
It feels easy to forget that we’re talking about a 22 year old woman. As a 22 year old woman myself, the idea of me being mature enough to be the world leader of a sport, to handle becoming a global role model practically overnight is unimaginable. Many of us seem to find the idea of Świątek losing a match preposterous, despite the fact that Novak Djokovic won his first major at age 20 and then didn’t win another until he was 23. Swiatek has four already. Plus seven WTA 1000 titles and five WTA 500s for good measure.
Her introversion is a key aspect in everything she does. She wrote down possible conversation topics before meeting her idol Rafael Nadal to feel more comfortable, but she also consulted a notebook during her match against Qinwen Zheng in the fourth round of the 2022 French Open and it seemed to help her turn the match around. She is introspective and reflective; this is clear when we see her converse with her coaches at length and in the credit she gives to her sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz. She takes time after tournaments to herself, often away from press appearances and social media, to reflect on her performance, recharge those introverted batteries and come back looking fresh and ready for the next challenge.
There are plenty of extroverted players on both tours, those who thrive on the crowd and use them in the tough moments to lift their game. It is a strength in itself, but Świątek’s motivation is intrinsic. Where Carlos Alcaraz openly admits he sometimes plays a flashy shot to entertain the masses (and we love him for it), Świątek is playing for nobody but herself. Even if she goes through a tricky patch within a set, it seems she plays some of her best tennis when she’s got a problem to solve.
Take the Qatar Open, just a few weeks ago. Going into the final, she had a 1-3 head to head record against Elena Rybakina, having lost to her all three times they played in 2023. Early on, it looked like we were going to see the same outcome again, with Rybakina quickly going 4-1 up. This was paused when Rybakina cut her knee during a particularly zealous serve, which required a lengthy medical timeout. It turned out to be the break in momentum that Świątek needed. She spent the entire time talking animatedly with her coaching team and, although we still don’t know exactly what was said, she came back on the court a different player. She won the match 7-6, 6-2 without much trouble from there on. Rather than feeding off the crowd to pick her back up when she was down, she was able to have a quiet conversation with those she’s closest to, reflect on her performance so far and problem solve effectively.
Using the crowd is by no means a worse tactic. When it works, it’s possibly even more impressive. A whole stadium cheering for an underdog who turns a match around for their fans is always quite the sight. Nadal in the 2022 Australian Open springs to mind, because even though Nadal is more introverted when off the court, he uses the crowd to perfection when he needs to. But when a stadium is against you for whatever reason — you’re playing a home favourite, or an all time great like Nadal — then the steely determination that Iga Świątek has in spades might just come in handy.
It’s a disposition that comes with its own challenges, however. Being under the constant spotlight of world number one doesn’t come naturally to those who prefer to keep to themselves. We saw the difficulties it caused last year, with Świątek herself describing the pressure as “overwhelming” in an interview with Eurosport. This wouldn’t have been helped by the disgusting abuse she received when she (occasionally) lost, which came largely from those who bet on her as a ‘sure win’ and blamed her when they didn’t collect. It seemed to culminate in a fourth round exit to Jelena Ostapenko in the U.S. Open which allowed Aryna Sabalenka to seize the number one ranking with both hands, even though she didn’t take home the slam.
She took two weeks to reset and refocus. She came back and immediately won a China Open that was stacked with top 10 players. Then she won the WTA Finals, with all that pressure on to reclaim the top spot she previously held for 75 weeks. She only dropped one game to Jessica Pegula in the final. It was mental strength at its finest, particularly the way in which she admitted she struggled with the pressure and then proved to us that she could overcome it anyway.
Iga Świątek is an inspiration for introverts everywhere — those who struggle with socialising and those who simply prefer time to themselves and those who might face criticism for being reclusive or quiet among others. She’s proof that introverted people can thrive if they have the right support and the right attitude. She has overcome her teenage desperation to better connect with others by finding out how she connects best: through her tennis.
Popcorn Tennis 