Sleep deprived Iga Swiatek not looking for excuses

James Richardson 13 Aug 2023 2:38 PM

Iga Swiatek reacts during her match

Iga Swiatek has revealed that she was suffering from fatigue as she bowed out of the Canadian Open to Jessica Pegula.

Pegula took the first set and held a one-break lead in the second but Swiatek would force a third set by winning the tiebreak.

Ultimately Pegula swept to the final set as Swiatek appeared to run out of steam.

Swiatek says that she hasn’t been able to rest properly during the tournament due to the frequent delays.

She also said that she hadn’t been sleeping very well after some late night finishes.

Swiatek said that she did not at any point give up the challenge when she was facing Pegula.

“Well, for sure physically it was a tough tournament,” Swiatek said.

“Especially that match against Karolina being delayed a couple of times, you know. I didn’t really have time during the tournament to actually rest for a while and do nothing. So it wasn’t easy, but it didn’t change the fact that I just fought until the end.”

Swiatek doesn’t believe that her physical state was any excuse for a loss given that the demands of the WTA Tour are apparent to all players.

“And this match today for sure physically was tough, like having only 16 hours to recover,” Swiatek said.

“For sure I’m not an easy sleeper, so it’s hard to sleep after such a match as yesterday with a lot of adrenaline, you know. You kind of have to deal with that. It’s the life of a tennis player. So I did what I could.”

She doesn’t feel that it would be helpful to her in her analysis of the defeat to put everything down to fatigue.

“For sure I wasn’t fresh today, but usually physicality is not something that is the reason why I’m losing, so I wouldn’t say it had such a big influence.”

Swiatek seemed a little dazed after the match and couldn’t account for the drop off in performance after she took the lead in the third set.

“She really pushed me, so I needed to change something up,” Swiatek said.

“It was working, but in the third, I don’t really know what happened when I was leading. I’ve got to watch the match and analyze it, because for sure she was fighting for every point and I did as well. It was a tricky match.”

Swiatek will hold the top seeding in Cincinnati but her spot at the top of the WTA Rankings will be under threat from Aryna Sabalenka.