Iga Swiatek was happy to go at it alone during a doubles match in New York.

Iga Swiatek’s double partner walked off court mid-rally during an exhibition match ahead of the US Open.

The WTA world No.1 was partnered with Sebastian Korda for the friendly contest against Italian duo Matteo Berrettini and Jasmine Paolini.

However, for one of the points Korda and Paolini might as well have been sat on the sidelines because Swiatek and Berrettini were playing as if it was a singles match.

The two shared a lengthy rally that lasted all of 18 shots, with the point eventually going the way of Swiatek after Berrettini struggled to return his Polish opponent’s powerful forehand.

But by the time the point had been contested, Swiatek was the only player on her side of the court, with American Korda having jokingly trundled off the court.

While in jest, it was a move that hinted Swiatek didn’t need his help and was more than capable on her own.

Korda was quick to congratulate his partner though, with the 24-year-old serving up a gigantic high five to the Polish superstar.

Unfortunately for Swiatek and Korda, they would go on to lose the exhibition match, with Berrettini and recent Olympic gold medalist Paolini coming out on top.

It came as part of a warm-up event at the Arthur Ashe Stadium ahead of this year’s US Open.

However, in the build-up to the final Grand Slam of the year, Swiatek has blasted the tennis organisers for scheduling ‘too many tournaments’.

Speaking at last week’s Cincinnati Open, she told Sky Sports: “Well, what can I say? I’ve been kind of an advocate saying that we shouldn’t like, I don’t know, be pushing and pushing for us to play more.

“Obviously it’s not our decision but for sure, I think we have too many tournaments in the season. It’s not going to end well and it makes tennis less fun for us, let’s just say.”

The 23-year-old continued: “Obviously I love playing in all these places but it’s pretty exhausting and I think most of the WTA players would tell you that. Especially when you’re playing at a high level and going to high rounds at every tournament.

“So I don’t think it should be like that because we deserve to rest a little bit more. Obviously maybe people are going to hate me for that.”

The five-time Grand Slam is on the hunt for her second US Open victory, having taken the title for the first and only time in 2022.

• Swiatek has won 8 of her last 10 matches against Sabalenka
• Can the World No.1 continue the winning streak in Cincinnati?
• Watch Iga Swiatek vs Aryna Sabalenka live streaming

  Iga Swiatek vs Aryna Sabalenka Preview

  Iga Swiatek has won three straight against Aryna Sabalenka and an 8-3 record in the head to head. This should be a great match with the winner to reach the final in Cincinnati.

  Stats

  • Iga Swiatek has won in 3 sets in 2 of her last 3 matches.
  • Iga Swiatek has won 8 of her last 10 matches against Aryna Sabalenka.
  • Aryna Sabalenka has lost 6 of her last 9 matches against Top 10 players.

  HTH

  Iga Swiatek is 8-3 against Aryna Sabalenka, winning the previous three encounters.
  They have met twice this year, both on clay, Swiatek winning 7-5 4-6 7-6 in the Madrid Open final and 6-2 6-3 in the Italian Open final.

  Iga Swiatek Stats

  Nationality: Poland
  Age: 23 (31 May 2001)
  Height: 5’9″ (1.76m)
  Plays: Right-Handed
  World Ranking: 1
  Career High: 1 (April 2022)
  WTA Tour Titles: 22
  2024 WTA Tour Titles: 5
  Grand Slam Singles Titles: 5 (4 French Open, US Open)
  Cincinnati Open Best Result: Semi-Finals (2023)

  Iga Swiatek Form

  Iga Swiatek is 55-6 this year, winning the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Open on hard courts alongside the Madrid Open, Italian Open and French Open on clay.
  The World No.1 exited early at Wimbledon and was on track at the Olympics before a semi-final defeat to Qinwen Zheng. She won the bronze medal match, thrashing Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-1.
  The Pole beat Varvara Gracheva 6-0 6-7 6-2 in her opening match in Cincinnati before showing Marta Kostyuk no mercy, winning 6-2 6-2 in 70 minutes.
  Swiatek got past Mirra Andreeva 4-6 6-3 7-5 in the quarter-finals, winning 63% of her 2nd serves and saving 2/3 break points.

  Aryna Sabalenka Stats

  Nationality: Belarus
  Age: 26 (5 May 1998)
  Height: 5’11” (1.82m)
  Plays: Right-Handed
  World Ranking: 3
  Career High: 1 (September 2023)
  WTA Tour Titles: 14
  2024 WTA Tour Titles: 1
  Grand Slam Singles Titles: 2 (2023, 2024 Australian Open)
  Cincinnati Open Best Result: Semi-Finals (2018, 2022, 2023)

  Aryna Sabalenka Form

  Aryna Sabalenka is 37-11 this year, reaching the Brisbane International final and winning the Australian Open.
  The World No.3 reached finals in Madrid and Rome, beaten by Iga Swiatek on both occasions.
  The Belarusian was last seen in Toronto, beating Yue Yuan and Katie Boulter in straight sets before a 6-4 6-2 quarter-final defeat to Amanda Anisimova.
  Sabalenka hasn’t lost a set in Cincinnati, defeating Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3 6-4, Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-2 and Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2.

Winning titles is very tempting for any player, but what about the lingering stress when the time between tours is short? Tennis players have been raging over the crazy scheduling of their professional calendar for long. Players like Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff to former legend Andy Roddick have expressed concerns over players’ fitness, given they are required to play frequent tournaments. Adding her bits to the matter, Iga Swiatek opens up about her challenges before the upcoming US Open.

Swiatek won the French Open, then transitioned to the grass season, and then earned a bronze for Poland in the Paris Olympics. Within days of that victory, she had to attend the Cincinnati Open to keep her form intact for the calendar’s last Grand Slam, the US Open. Swiatek said, “Our calendar is crazy, probably the toughest one in sports“.

In a press conference for the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek further delved deeper into her statement and said, “There are sports that are really tough because, physically, you might get beat up. But most sports have four months off, sometimes even six. Our schedule is crazy, and it’s getting more crazy every year, which is scary. You just have to train wisely.“

For Swiatek, 2024 has been a hectic year. However, she has shown great promise by owning five tour-best titles this season. Swiatek won titles in Doha, Madrid, Indian Wells, Rome, the French Open, and a bronze in the Olympics

Cincinnati Open will be Swiatek’s first hard-court tournament since March. She expressed about treating it like a practice championship and revealed her strategy for the upcoming matches. While the world number 1 is usually very confident, this time, she is keeping a low expectation about her form on the surface.. Despite reliving her father’s ’88 Seoul Olympics moment in Paris, Swiatek expressed a difficult calendar for the tennis players. She played in the Olympics on clay and is now moving to the hard course for Cincinnati and the US Open. Given the very limited time window between these events, it has become crucial for her to maintain fitness.

Iga Swiatek revealed “taking it easy“ in Cincinnati

For any tennis player, moving from one surface to another in a short time is difficult. Swiatek mentioned at the Media Day for the Cincinnati Open, “We’re taking it easy, doing everything step by step. For sure, it’s not going to be perfect from the beginning but I had a couple days to really get used to the surface, so I’m trying to do the best job possible every day and entering the court next day knowing I can do something better,” she said. Swiatek’s statement expressed her concern over playing well in Cincinnati when she barely had some days to prepare for the hard surface.

“I’m going to treat it as a practice tournament, Not in a way that I don’t care but in the way that I want to implement all the stuff I’ve been practiced, and I think that’s the best approach for me,” Swiatek concluded.

For this her, hard work has no boundaries. Despite that, her statements showcase the intense pressure on tennis players to maintain their form by attending tournaments constantly. Athletes have crazy schedules and require utmost dedication if they want to succeed like Swiatek.

CINCINNATI — World No. 1 Iga Swiatek is ready to get back to work. Following a whirlwind that began on European clay in April and intensified through the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 23-year-old Polish star has felt the pressure of her season grow week by week.

Now, with a bronze medal from Paris in hand, she’s embracing the chance to unwind and recharge in the relatively calmer atmosphere of the Cincinnati Open.

Cincinnati: Scores | Draws | Order of Play

“I literally felt after the Olympics that I need to kind of reset and also just focus on getting my technique back together and just grinding on court,” Swiatek told reporters ahead of the tournament, which begins on Tuesday.

“Here is the perfect place to do it. It feels a little bit less crazy, but on the other hand, even before the tournament, there are many people and a lot of fans. So you still feel that it’s an important tournament anyway.”

A semifinalist last year, Swiatek is the top seed in Cincinnati, the seventh WTA 1000 tournament of the Hologic WTA Tour season and the second of the North American hard-court summer. Along with the National Bank Open, which concludes on Monday in Toronto, the back-to-back WTA 1000 events wind the tour toward the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season at the US Open.

In a regular year, top players would have earned a bit of rest after Wimbledon before putting in a solid training block ahead of the current swing. But with the majority of players participating at the Olympics, preparation was cut short. Swiatek did not have time to stop home and repack.

Which means she still has all her Paris souvenirs in her bag:

“It was pretty stressful and it wasn’t easy,” Swiatek said, reflecting on her Olympic experience. “But I’m happy that I could leave Paris with a medal and with a lot of knowledge about myself. The most important thing for me was to learn from this experience.

“I was proud of myself and I was happy that I could deal with all this pressure and still get a medal. It wasn’t like a normal tournament, for sure.”

Swiatek can now breathe. Being able to focus on her daily practice and have the rest of her days free has already proven restful. Still, the challenge remains. She is a four-time champion at hard-court WTA 1000 events, but she has yet to make the final in either Canada or Cincinnati. She’ll be working on adjusting to the faster conditions while also getting accustomed to the lighter Wilson Regular Duty Balls, which the tournament has reintroduced this year.

“We haven’t played with these particular balls in two years,” Swiatek said. “I think they’re lighter. They lose heaviness after a while, because the hair from the balls is just gone after, like, 15 minutes.

“But I played with these in 2022. So you just need to kind of remember how it was. And with all the changes in the surface and the balls, you can’t expect that you’re going to just make constant progress. You need to focus more on adjusting. And that’s what I’m going to do now.”

When a reporter reminded the five-time major champion that she won the 2022 US Open with these balls, Swiatek looked embarrassed.

“I know,” she said. “I don’t know how I did that.”

This week, Swiatek is spending her 116th week as the World No.1. She captured her fourth Roland Garros title in May and has already won four WTA 1000 titles this season — in Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome.

Earlier this month, she became the first player to secure her spot at the WTA Finals Riyadh, where she will return as the defending champion. To have a chance at that title defense, Swiatek will first get back to basics.

“I know that the first tournament on hard court is not going to be easy,” Swiatek said, “so I’m going to try to treat it as a practice tournament, but not in a way that I don’t care — more in a way that I want to implement all the stuff that I practiced on. I think it’s the best approach for me now.”

Iga Swiatek fulfilled her father’s unaccomplished dream of winning an Olympic medal with a podium finish in Paris. The Olympics held special meaning for Swiatek, largely because of her father’s deep connection to the Games. Tomasz Swiatek, Iga’s father, had participated in the Seoul Olympics of 1988 as a rower but had failed to win a medal.

After claiming the bronze medal, Swiatek opened up about the profound love and admiration she has for her father. In an interview with Visa after the Paris Olympics, when the host displayed a picture of the world number one and her father and asked Iga about the picture, she got a bit emotional. Looking into the picture, the 23-year-old highlighted her love for her father and his involvement in her tennis career.

She stated, “That’s actually a photo that was taken this year, basically because of him you know I’m playing tennis. In tough moments, my dad was there to keep going and to show me that it’s still worth it and I shouldn’t give up.” 

Aware of Iga’s fear of water, the father-daughter duo chose tennis as her career, rather than rowing and it turned out to be the correct decision. Swiatek is not only a four-time French Open champion now, she is also the no. 1 player in the world. But amidst chasing WTA crowns and Grand Slam victories, the ambition of winning an Olympic medal never faded. Iga was always keen to win a medal for her nation at the Summer Games.

“It’s amazing. Honestly, me and my sister were raised in this spirit that the Olympics are the most important tournament. That’s why it wasn’t the easiest tournament. I’m happy (my Dad) was here to see it. This is for sure a great place for me to be and play. I’m happy that besides Roland Garros titles, I could add another success to it,” Swiatek said after winning the bronze medal.

During the Paris Olympics when Iga lost the semifinal and it was met with a wave of criticism—ranging from questions about her strategy to her composure—her father stepped in to offer support. Amidst the scrutiny, he stood by her side, defending her achievements and reminding everyone of her dedication and her effort toward reaching the podium.

Iga Swiatek’s father stands against the wave of criticism 

After she failed to make it to the finals and lost the opportunity to win a gold medal at the Olympics, critics immediately questioned Swiatek’s plans. While the Pole received support from her father, her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski also came to her defense. The world no. 1 bounced back immediately to find herself a spot on the podium, beating Anna Karolina in straight sets in the bronze medal match.

Swiatek’s father said, “An Olympic medal is something special. I will say, perversely, that anyone who thinks it’s easy should try it themselves. It’s easy to judge from an armchair, but it looks different from the inside. It’s perceived differently in the stands or in front of the TV.” 

Swiatek’s love for her father is evident in how she cherishes his role in her journey and how his unwavering support has been a cornerstone of her success. Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on Swiatek’s equation with her father? Let us know in the comment section below.