Iga Swiatek has confessed to struggling with anxiety after reaching world No 1 this year. The Pole was handed the ranking in unusual circumstances after Ash Barty decided to end her career while she was the top-ranked player, leaving Swiatek struggling with the pressure despite enjoying a career-best season that has seen her win two Grand Slam titles.
Swiatek is currently playing her first tournament since winning her third Major crown at the US Open. The 21-year-old is into the quarter-finals at the Ostrava Open and has been opening up about some of the “difficult” challenges she has faced this year, including her rise to the top spot and her recent win in Flushing Meadows.
The Pole previously revealed she cried when Barty retired back in March, and has now opened up on the anxiety she faced after taking the Aussie’s baton as world No 1. “The fact that Ash decided to end her career, I was number two for less than a week, and then in one day I became number one,” Swiatek told Dominik Senkowski for Sport.pl.
“That meant that I quickly found myself in a new, incredibly demanding situation.” Swiatek had already won two successive titles in Doha and Indian Wells when Barty announced her retirement, and the new world No 1 lifted four more titles in a row afterwards in Miami, Stuttgart, Rome and the French Open.
