Iga Swiatek is not letting recent losses to Coco Gauff affect her mindset. As Round 1 of the Australian Open wraps up, Iga Swiatek has had time to reflect on her game since the United Cup in Sydney last week.

When asked whether losing her last few matches to Coco Gauff had started to play on her mind, Swiatek’s response revealed not just about the rivalry, but about her mindset as a competitor.

“Honestly, it doesn’t. When I was winning against her, it didn’t. That’s why I guess it was possible for me to continue. Because I wasn’t taking it for granted or coming to a match unfocused”, Swiatek answered in the post-game interview.

Known for her routine habits, comparable to those of Rafael Nadal, discipline, and reading notes between games, the former world no. 1's philosophy is that a player is set.

“I guess it kind of tells you something more about the game, or things you should work on or improve. Also, she improved. The head-to-head doesn’t really matter,” she explained.

She pointed out that each match and its conditions are different, and it all depends on how she feels at that moment. “I just really want to treat every match as a separate story,” she added.

Swiatek once held an 11–1 head-to-head advantage over Gauff, but the American has now won their last four meetings, closing the gap to 11–5. With her singles victory at the United Cup, Gauff became the first player to defeat Swiatek four times consecutively, all in straight sets.

Taking nothing away from the American, Iga Swiatek praised her growth

“I feel like Coco has improved stuff. It’s quite visible,” Swiatek said in the post-game press conference after losing 4-6, 2-6 at Ken Rosewall Arena.

“The matches we played a couple of years back were most of them were kind of one-sided. I feel like that’s it. She’s also growing in age, more experienced as well. So yeah, she’s been a top player for many years now, even though she started with she was, like, 16, much earlier than most of us do. Yeah, congrats to her basically”.

But Iga is now determined to turn the page in hopes of claiming her maiden Australian Open title. She made it past the first round with a first-set tiebreak in a tough match-up against Chinese wildcard Yuan, whereas Gauff got the easier draw, finishing 6-2, 6-3.

They both advance to round 2, with Swiatek as the world number 2 and Gauff at 3. Their next potential meeting could come only in the latter stages, and we are excited about yet another high-stakes chapter in this rivalry.

Written by

Fatema Kapasi

Edited by

Joyita Das