What a difference a year makes for 19-year-old Iga Swiatek

Speaking about Iga Swiatek on Tennis Channel Live Tuesday evening, Martina Navratilova said, “You feel like the pressure doesn’t bother her at all.”

Let’s hear it from the 19-year-old Swiatek, following her 6-1, 6-3 opening-round win over Arantxa Rus: “Basically I tried to only think about playing and not other stuff. I was singing in my head to keep my mind busy, focusing on little things.”

Play. Songs. An awareness that tennis is important, but at heart, a game with a soundtrack. Pressure? Potentially troubling, but also, an illusion, a construct of fear, created by oneself and others.

A year ago in Melbourne, Swiatek was one of many hopefuls. In her Australian Open main-draw debut, she reached the round of 16. Twelve months later, she’s back as the French Open champion, last fall having made a run through Roland Garros that was both surprising—and yet, also, strikingly dominant. What Swiatek did in Paris was reminiscent of the ease with which the 19-year-old Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open. As Carly Simon sang, “You walked into the party/like you were walking onto a yacht.”

One major reason for Swiatek’s success and composure is the significant presence in her camp of a sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz. A thoughtful article published in the *New York Times* last weekend explored Abramowicz’s background, including her own experiences as a highly skilled sailor. A feature on her, in the most recent issue of Tennis Magazine, speaks to Swiatek's desire to bring consistency to the top of the women's game.

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As the Times article explains, Abramowicz’s recent advice to Swiatek has included telling her to watch a movie about the life of Princess Diana to understand the challenges of life as a celebrity. Abramowicz also noted how Swiatek became relaxed when she solved math problems.

But Abramowicz’s wisdom might well be the secondary factor. No question, she brings tons to Swiatek—a great many ideas about how to quiet the mind, savor the competitive process, and maintain perspective.

Even more intriguing is that Abramowicz is front and center. Often in tennis, psychologists have been invoked, but always as adjuncts to a player’s support system. Think of psychologists as software apps, peripheral to the central role played by the coach—just about always a fellow player. In this setup, the psychologist is a supporting player, perhaps one loss (or even one win) from being jettisoned.

But the Swiatek-Abramowicz connection runs deeper. Though not a tennis player, Abramowicz clearly is Swiatek’s go-to advisor. Such status might well signal shifting forces within player support groups. Must an ex-player be the head coach? In other cases, might the true leader be the physiotherapist? And as we’ve seen often, no matter who the player employs, a father or mother remains chief guru.

As Sampras noted, that teen US Open run was “a case of a pup going through a zone.” It took him a couple of challenging years to build off that victory and emerge as the world’s best. Perhaps with Abramowicz in her corner, the path will be smoother for Swiatek, who advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Camila Giorgi. At least she’ll have a song in her head.