Iga Swiatek felt "tired like never before" after Poland lost a Billie Jean King Cup Finals thriller against Italy but underlined that she had no regrets for coming to Malaga to represent her nation.
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Since Magda Linette lost to Lucia Bronzetti in the first match of ther semifinal tie, the world No. 2 was in a must-win situation in her match against Jasmine Paolini. Although it didn't come easily, the five-time Grand Slam champion ultimately managed to seal a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win over the world No. 4 in two hours and 38 minutes of play.
Later, Swiatek returned to the court for the deciding doubles rubber with Katarzyna Kawa. Unfortunately for the Polish team, they didn't manage to complete their comeback after Paolini and Sara Errani won 7-5 7-5 in nearly an hour and 40 minutes of action.
Two days earlier, the 23-year-old also played in singles and doubles versus the Czech Republic and spent a total of three hours and 55 minutes on the court. On Friday, the Pole was also over two and a half hours on the court for her match against Spain's Paula Badosa.
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Ultimately, Swiatek's efforts were enough for Poland to reach their first semifinal and make history but not more than that.
Honestly, I think I have never been so tired before, especially after this last match we played. Still, I have no regrets, I fought for every point. Maybe there was a moment where I could have adjusted things a bit better, but I tactically made a mistake. Overall, I think we fought well until the end, we gave our all on the court," the four-time French Open winner said after the match, via Punto de Break.
Swiatek: My whole body is sore, I won't have any strength when I wake up...
In Malaga, the 23-year-old appeared in a total of five matches - three singles and two doubles match - and spent nearly 11 hours on the court.
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On the WTA Tour, the former world No. 1 is widely regarded as one of the fittest and best-prepared players. That was even acknowledged by Badosa after their match on Friday.
But still, spending so much time on the court over the course of four days left Swiatek extremely tired and exhausted.
I don't think I'll feel any strength tomorrow when I wake up; I feel like my whole body is sore. I definitely played some nice matches this week, although today I just tried to survive physically, but I'm happy that I kept my concentration in the two matches today even though in the previous round my game wasn't as perfect. They were very close matches; it was nice to win the singles in crucial moments, that's when I took advantage of my chances. Now I will start 2025 with new goals, I'm looking forward to it, as I didn't have much time to train with Wim (Fissette), so it will be good to try out new things," the Pole said.
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Swiatek didn't think she was at her usual level against Paolini
Following their latest clash, the Polish tennis star improved to 4-0 in her head-to-head against the 28-year-old Italian. But this was by far their tightest battle and also the first time that the Italian managed to take a set off the world No. 2. In each their first three meetings, Paolini didn't win more than three games.
Earlier this year, Swiatek destroyed the world No. 4 6-2 6-1 in the French Open final.
I don't think I was as consistent as in previous matches against her, at least in the recent games. In the Roland Garros final, for example, I didn't give her any space, whereas in the US Open, I didn't allow her to get into the match. Today I did, and that's why she took advantage. We are talking about one of the best players in the world; you can't do this against this kind of player if you want to win without problems. I think my energy level was very low in the second set; I couldn't recover until the third. I don't know why; I just felt better in the third set, but I think I could have done more," the Pole assessed.
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Meanwhile, Paolini admitted that it was much easier for her to play Swiatek on hard courts. And while she was disappointed not to win in singles, she was happy that she was at least able to recover for the doubles match and clinch the key win with Errani there.
When it comes to Swiatek, her season is over and her next official tournament will be the United Cup in late December.
