The last two months have been full of mixed emotions for me. Iga SwiatekPolish woman won French Open He proved to be the best in the world on red clay but was unable to maintain his dominance over the summer.

Iga was eliminated early Wimbledon Championshipswhere she showed that she still didn’t have the right feel on grass. The Polish woman was a big favourite to win the gold medal Paris OlympicsTaking place on the same red clay as the French Open.

Swiatek did not handle his nerves and pressure wellShe met Paris with a somewhat disappointing result. The Polish champion literally collapsed in the semi-finals and burst into tears in front of reporters, but was able to react quickly and won a valuable bronze medal. Despite some disappointments, Iga is still having a great season and has plenty of time to win other great titles.

Swiatek is already qualified

The WTA Finals There is already a first leading player. This year’s competition between the eight best tennis players of the year, to be held in Riyadh, will be played from November 2-9, but there is one particular player who will be participating today. That is world number one Iga Swiatek, who has been the absolute ruler of the WTA tour for several years now. As the governing body of women’s tennis announced on Wednesday, the reigning champion from Poland is the first woman to qualify for the year-end finals.

This tournament, played in Guadalajara in its last editions, has lost its appeal and in order to make it great again, the WTA has decided to sign a three-year agreement with Saudi Arabia from 2024 to 2026. The event, which features the best eight women’s singles and doubles players, A record $15.25 million prize money will be offeredIncreases are expected in 2025 and 2026.

The 23-year-old from Warsaw has already booked her ticket to the year-end event thanks to another season in which she has proven herself as the tennis player to beat. In 11 tournaments (including the United Cup, where she competed with her national team and won all seven of her matches in the finals), Swiatek has won the trophy five times and also won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. A terrible record of 52 wins and 5 losses (over 90% of victories), Roland Garros and four Masters 1000s in Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome. Her only disappointments were early exits in the third round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and finishing third despite being the favourite to win gold at the Olympic Games.

The 23-year-old player (Coco Gauff), who is second in the WTA rankings with a difference of over 3,000 points, Scored 7465 points in the annual raceexactly 700 more than needed to qualify. The Polish woman will definitely defend her title in 2023, which she won by defeating Jessica Pegula in the final.

Experience at the Paris Olympics

The experience at the Paris Olympics will help Swiatek a lot in the future: “I didn’t realise how deep it was inside me and how big a burden it was. I know I’m probably not playing my A game here. I didn’t feel like I could really move naturally and in the way I’m used to on clay. But I’m happy that I overcame that and am here with a bronze medal.

Maybe I was a little too arrogant with myself. because I thought I had handled a lot of pressure before, I think I will handle this one too. And now I am really motivated to work even harder and I think I will be a bit more humble. I think if I hadn’t played today I would have cried for a week, so I had to pull myself together. The fact that in tennis, if we lose, we normally have to say goodbye to the competition, but this time I had to go out once more. I had to be professional, pull myself together and win the last match. That meant it was different from any other normal competition.

Standing on the podium, my whole career flashed before my eyes, I never expected how I started, that I would be competing for medals and playing at this level, so it’s still an abstract concept for me. I am so proud of myselfThe Polish champion will need to work hard to regain his energy and be ready for the second half of the season.