Swiatek starts from scratch in Indian Wells title defense

INDIAN WELLS: Iga Swiatek, learning to navigate the expectations piled on a world number one, says she’s looking forward not back as she launches her title defense at the Indian Wells ATP and WTA Masters.

The 21-year-old from Warsaw took tennis by storm in 2022, her early-season victories including prestigious wins at Doha, Indian Wells and Miami.

She’d finish the year with two Grand Slam titles at the French Open and US Open, but said Wednesday she is trying to “not really think about what happened last year and remember that’s a different story.”

Swiatek was toppled by Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open round of 16, and after defending her Doha WTA title last month she was stunned in the Dubai final by Barbora Krejcikova.

“Sometimes it’s also important to remember that you can lose,” Swiatek said. “There are other players who are also playing great tennis. Last season spoiled me a little bit.”

She admitted that a stream of easy match wins – she hasn’t played a three-setter this year – might have let a little complacency creep in.

“I still have to kind of remember that I’m going to have tight matches and to fight for every ball,” she said.

While she and her coach assess each defeat and work to make adjustments, she said she tries to tune out criticism from outside.

Swiatek herself was pleased with her play in Doha and Dubai – noting that reaching both finals was, in fact, a strong result even if her loss to Krejcikova, a former French Open champion now 30th in the world -- drew scrutiny.

“Last year, before all this huge streak, before winning all these tournaments, I would be so happy with the result, but because of these comments right now I felt like ‘Oh, that’s not enough,’” she said.

“So I’m trying not to read a lot of these things and I don’t want it to influence me because I’m happy with the work I’ve made and with how I played in, Doha and Dubai.”

Swiatek’s number one ranking is safe through Indian Wells and Miami, but she’ll be up against a quality field in the California desert.