Iga Swiatek admitted that she has been going through a challenging time since the Paris Olympics where she won the bronze medal. The Pole had lost to Qinwen Zheng in the semis before beating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the third-place playoff match.

Swiatek also faced disappointment in the Cincinnati Masters where she crashed out in the semis after a straight-sets defeat to Aryna Sabalenka. The 23-year-old will be one of the favourites to win the US Open and the youngster talked about focussing on her game and not the results.

“After the Olympics, it hasn’t been easy. I feel the best when I’m just focused on practicing and grinding on the court, and really focus on just making my game better and not on the results. I’m just going to try to keep that mindset and that attitude,” Swiatek said.

‘I had a lot of baggage’

Swiatek has happy memories of playing in the hard-court major after she won the title back in 2022. But last year, she failed to go beyond the pre-quarters after losing to Jelena Ostapenko.

Adding insult to her injury, she had lost her World No.1 ranking to Sabalenka, although she reclaimed her top spot later. Swiatek said that she doesn’t want to burden herself with the pressure of expectations.

“I felt I had many things to defend, like the world No. 1 position, all my points and also the title itself. I felt like I had a lot of baggage on my shoulders. This year, it’s a little bit different. This year, I’m just trying to focus on what I should do tennis-wise to play the best game possible. My expectations are not so high compared to last year,” Swiatek added.

Swiatek is set to begin her campaign with the match against Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round on August 27.