‘I never even played Serena!’ Iga Swiatek on why she doesn’t think about tennis history

It’s early days, but Iga Swiatek has begun her quest for a third Roland-Garros title. If she manages it, she will equal the achievement on the Paris clay of Serena Williams, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario – but that is not something that drives her.

“Honestly, I don’t even know these records,” she said in her press conference after beating Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 6-0. “I play tennis but I’m not really an expert in terms of statistics and history, so I’m not really focused on that. I’m kind of living in a different world, I feel.

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“I never even played Serena or, you know, Monica Seles. So, yeah, I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

Swiatek: We all feel pressure

The Pole, who marks her 22nd birthday on Wednesday, has now been world No 1 for over a year, and she admitted that she does feel the weight of expectation.

“Of course I feel pressure. I think we all feel pressure. Like there are players who are in some positions that are a little bit harder for them or easier, but yeah, I feel pressure. I would be lying if I said I don’t.

“But I’m trying to kind of work with it and just play my game no matter, you know, all the circumstances and the expectations from the outside.

“It’s not easy, but basically I think it’s like the most important thing in tennis right now to cope with that properly, and I already know how to do that, so I have like all hopes that I’m going to continue doing that.”

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