World No.1 Iga Swiatek has attributed her shock straight-sets fourth-round Australian Open exit to her failure to take care of the strain as she chased a breakthrough Melbourne Park title as the recent favorite.
Swiatek was rolled 6-4 6-4 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
The 21-year-old lamented her strategy in Melbourne after her bid for a fourth main got here to an abrupt halt.
“I need to work on my mindset and fight a little bit more as I did last season so for sure I’m going to take time right now to reset,” Swiatek instructed reporters.
“For sure the past two weeks have been pretty hard. Today I felt like I didn’t have that much to take from myself to fight even more.
“I felt like I took a step again when it comes to how I approached this match and I perhaps needed it a bit of bit too laborious, so I’m going to try to relax a bit of bit extra, that is all.
“I felt the pressure and felt that I don’t want to lose instead of that I want to win.
“That’s the bottom of what I ought to give attention to the following couple of weeks.”
Swiatek was adamant entering Melbourne as world No.1 didn’t affect her but said her build-up to the loss hadn’t been ideal, despite winning her first three rounds in straight sets.
The 21-year-old was reduced to tears after a straight-sets loss to world No.3 Jessica Pegula at the United Cup.
“I simply wasted an excessive amount of vitality earlier than the match and in the course of the first days of the match to fret,” Swiatek said.
The Polish star remains untouchable in the rankings after her standout 2022, when she claimed the French and US Opens among eight titles and went on a 37-match winning streak.
Swiatek didn’t expect to be haunted by Sunday’s loss.
“I’ll have the ability to transfer previous it and in addition be taught from it,” she stated.
“Usually if my complete expertise on the match was harder after which it involves an finish, I’m in a position really to not give attention to the truth that I misplaced the match however in regards to the total efficiency and what is going on on with me.
“This time I think it’s going to be motivating for me and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to play next tournament with something to focus on and something to work on and I think I’m going to go forwards.
“It’s OK. I’ll get extra time to reset and it does not matter for me if it was a semi-final, a fourth spherical, or a last or no matter. I simply wish to transfer ahead.”
