“I don’t want to hurt Iga”. Appeal to psychologist Iga witek. “No answer for a long time” Tennis

Only 29 forced errors and 8 winning balls – this statistic shows just how badly Iga Swidek played. Maria Zachary is a very uncomfortable competitor for our 20 year old. The Greek woman defeated the Polish player in the quarterfinals of Roland Karos this year and the semifinals of the tournament in Ostrava. Now there is a 0-3 draw with Iga. But just now she was really helpless in the fight with Zachary Swedek. Because, in fact, she was the first to fight with herself. And it was sad to see this fight.

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Ukasz Jachimiak: What worries you the most – Iga Świątek’s bad game in the match with Maria Zachary or the reaction he gave to the Greek girl before the match? I will tell you right now: I know that Iga cried during the match.

Michał Lewandowski: It hurts me too. Sorry to think of Iga. I have known her for many years and I know how valuable, intelligent and passionate a woman is. She regrets seeing emotions take precedence over sport. This time during the match, it happened before the last ball. It can be hard to find many examples of players doing this in professional tennis during a match.

I could not imagine such an example. Do you have anything

– Nothing. Brutally speaking, this should not happen at this stage of the professional game.

Because you play to the end and eventually express your emotions?

– These are not low quality competitions, this is not a junior competition. God, I don’t want to hit Iga and hurt her. I focus on the problem that needs to be solved. David Celt correctly said in Colonel + Studio that there are various tools in the world that can be used to deal with difficult situations in the game. You need to find a solution during the game. Otherwise, emotions control the player. Iga is blocked from the inside. She grabs his hand and picks up the ball – in fear of what will happen. If you worry and leave your basic game plan, your opponent will not be able to take advantage of it on this level of progress. Zachary used Ika’s weaknesses perfectly, which is why he was definitely better.

Iga Swidek fell completely before the last ball. Dramatic result of the game

I think Zbigniew Boniek can hit the nail on the head, he wrote on Twitter: “I know why you sometimes cry because you know and feel that you are better than them. You have to sort it out.” If you find that you are not using your ability because of stress, it can make you very frustrated.

– Exactly. Knowing my value, what I can do, and at the same time having a great inner limit works just like Iga. We have been following Iga’s acting for some time. We know her life is exploding and racing. But Iga has an employee with a psychologist. An expert travels with Iga, and her dad is also in Mexico with her, so it seems that Iga is taking proper care of her. Meanwhile, the chaotic reaction happens to her again. That’s why we care. Somehow this has to be dealt with so that Iga’s career doesn’t falter. Of course, you can appreciate what Iga has already won – the Grand Slam title, which he won 6-0, 6-0 in the final against Bliskova in Rome – but Iga is truly a tennis player with such ability, so far only his wins. Would be the beginning of a better life. I know Iga is looking ahead and when she looks at the cups on the shelf she thinks “I need more”. She is broken by her perfectionist attitude because she is not getting much. She feels she can.

Maria Zachary reminded Iga immediately after the game that she was only 20 years old. That said we sometimes forget it. On the one hand, Greek is OK – Iga has time to mature. But on the other hand, we do not see a common pattern for young athletes. Iga has not had for some time that he will win with one of the top 5 in one day, lose in the 50th the next day and beat the big name again. He has been losing in all competitions with his rivals from above for many months. And it breaks down mentally often.

– Yes, probably in Rome Iga won last with a girl from the top 10 places. It’s May. The figures do not lie. Either way you can see it standing somewhere. On the one hand, you are glad that the 20-year-old girl is already very tall, but on the other hand, after starting a better life, you start to worry that she has already slowed down. The second part of the ongoing season shows that it is not colorful. I would like to emphasize once again that this is not a beating ego. These are the facts. She trains, tries, does everything to move forward, but I wouldn’t say she hit the wall because it was an abuse, but she certainly didn’t use her ability. Know the history of tennis and be concerned. There were young, talented women who won Grand Slam tournaments like Ostapenko or Ivanovic, then there was no speed, but only breaking. And Iga has more energy to express a better game than the two tennis players I mentioned. Everyone who knows tennis knows that Iga is a woman who can win a few or a dozen titles, not just a Grand Slam title.

I am well aware that Mats Wilander has melted down on Iga several times. A seven-time Grand Slam champion, he believes Swedek has everything to win on any surface, in all competitions of the highest quality.

– That’s right. Now we can see how difficult it is for Iga to create everything in her bag. Like a parachute she can’t open. Because there are things that prevent her from being inside. This must be overcome. You can of course. You need to take the right direction and help the girl. She is very conscious, intelligent, she is definitely looking for solutions, but she is so young, she gets down to everything.

“This problem may be bigger than we thought.” Reactions to Swedek’s tears

The aforementioned David Celt told me how Daria Abramovich works with Iga and how he feels about these mental health issues. Fans are demanding the same, for example the psychologist approached Iga on Twitter. Do you think this is a secret and does not make sense in calling Taria Abramovich for such talk, or is it worth calling?

– You definitely should. I sign with both hands. At this point, when it happens again, when people have been asking for a long time what is going on, it is time for a reaction to happen. You need an answer. We all see Ega’s emotions explode, and since he’s hired one person exclusively for this purpose in his staff, he often appears in the media, for example on Twitter, so I think the environment should respond to what is happening. . Maybe this person can calm us down by saying, “Listen, this is a process, wait, we do this or we do that.” On the other hand, if there is no answer for a long time, our doubts increase and our anxiety about Iga increases. Because Iga is the most important of all these. Not what we think. Well, if there is a professional secret, it is clear that you have to respect it. But you do not have to put all the cards. We live in a time when the public has a right to know what’s going on. Because we care about this young woman in the most ordinary way in the world.