Music, books, TV: Across nine time zones, Iga Swiatek remains balanced

Tennis Channel Live: Iga Swiatek Wins 2022 US Open

SAN DIEGO—On Sunday afternoon, Iga Swiatek was in Ostrava, playing the final of the Czech city's WTA tournament against Barbora Krejcikova. It’s one of the matches of the year, a three-hour-and-16 minute epic, won by Krecikova, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

By Tuesday morning, across 6,111 miles and nine time zones, Swiatek had made her way west for the San Diego Open and her first trip to this city. There she was on a remote practice court at the Barnes Tennis Center, recovering from what she this afternoon called “a nice jet lag.”

This is how it goes in tennis if you’re Iga Swiatek.

“Well, the thing is that right now I feel a little bit like more fresh because I had really time off after the US Open," said the US Open champion. "So coming to Ostrava, I, I knew that I can give like everything all in and even though I played like two really long matches there, I feel pretty fine physically.”

Swiatek these days is smack in the middle of that vocational sweet spot every pro tennis player dreams about. As rigorous as Swiatek is in frequently describing her devotion to process in all forms, we all know that nothing validates a process more than a good outcome. And this year, Swiatek has had tons of great outcomes, the most notable her title runs at Roland Garros and the US Open. Keep in mind that as recently as late September 2020, Swiatek was ranked 54th in the world.

Through her rocket-like rise to the top, Swiatek has remained attuned to who she is and how she hopes to be regarded.

“I would like to be known as somebody who's mentally strong and be involved in some topic that are personally important for me,” she said Tuesday afternoon in San Diego. “But on the other hand, I don't want to become like face of everything, you know?”

Inside the lines, one of Swiatek’s strengths is her posture, an exquisite form of balance that quite often puts her in the right place to strike the ball forcefully. Outside the lines, it will be interesting to see how Swiatek remains balanced as she continues to navigate life at the pinnacle.

“I always felt like, like we need things besides tennis,” said Swiatek. “I love listening to music. I love reading books and when I can, I'm watching a lot of TV shows.” But, yeah, I really enjoyed, staying in the States last year because we, I, we also stayed before the finals for like four weeks and I went to the Eagles and to NBA games.”

The writer in me couldn’t help but ask Swiatek what books she’s read lately. Unable to recall the titles, Swiatek turned to her sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, for assistance. According to Abramowicz, Swiatek just finished Madame Bovary, a 19th century classic about an anguished wife. Currently she’s reading In the Name of the Rose, a mystery novel set in a 14th century Benedectine monastery.

Come Thursday, she’ll start to compose her own San Diego story.