Iga Swiatek terminera la saison sans avoir remporté le moindre titre du Grand Chelem.
La joueuse polonaise a quitté le circuit des Majeurs hier, battue par Qinwen Zheng au terme d’une remontée héroïque (7-5, 6-3), qui a mis fin à son parcours à l’US Open. Malgré l’immense déception, l’ancienne numéro un mondiale a livré une analyse lucide de sa défaite, mettant en avant les trop nombreuses fautes qui l’ont finalement condamnée face à son adversaire :
« I felt that I was missing too many shots, she started to play better and I allowed her to get back into the match. But, honestly, my concentration was the same as always. I wanted to play as usual. I just started making too many mistakes, I tried to correct the situation, but at that point nothing was working anymore. I knew I would have another chance and I wanted to take advantage of it, but I missed them all.
Today I wouldn’t say it was a question of mentality. It was more that I started making mistakes, you know, on easy balls, while Qinwen stopped making mistakes. She played those balls better. yes, I feel like I got over it. Obviously it’s not as easy for me to play here as it is on a slightly slower surface, where the ball bounces slightly higher. But I still think I could have played a little bit better, so that’s a shame. However, it seems to me that in this part of the season she has managed this kind of situation better. »
Swiatek battue par Zheng à New York
Swiatek n’a pas cherché à accabler davantage son adversaire, rappelant ses précédents à New York :
« All the US Open, except for the one in 2022, went like this. So we faced a lot of defeats. Obviously it’s not the best thing you can say, but in tennis you are more used to losing than winning. So I don’t feel the need to recover from anything.
I just have to focus on working for the next tournaments, and there will be other opportunities to play good tennis. I will focus on growing and developing my game.
That’s it, Maybe I could have played more cautiously or something, but I also didn’t feel I had room against Qinwen to do it. If I had been more solid than her, I would have won the match, but I wasn’t solid and I was making too many mistakes, » a-t-elle conclu.
