Swiatek made her tournament debut in Stuttgart last year while riding a 37-match winning streak, and she went on to win her fourth straight championship.
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For her title defence at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Iga Swiatek assured reporters that she is in excellent physical condition. The Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers and the Miami Open were both postponed in March due to the World No. 1 Swiatek’s withdrawal due to a rib injury she sustained during her run to the Indian Wells semifinals. Swiatek made her tournament debut in Stuttgart last year while riding a 37-match winning streak, and she went on to win her fourth straight championship. In the championship match, Swiatek easily defeated No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka, winning 6-2, 6-2.
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“I’m not injured anymore, so that’s the most important thing for me,” Swiatek said at Media Day in Stuttgart. “I feel like I used that time in Warsaw well to rest a little bit and to not think about tennis. I have still been working out physically a little bit and obviously coming back to practicing step by step. Here I am, and I think I’m ready.”
“It’s pretty easy to kind of just imagine that you are doing the same stuff on a match,” Swiatek said of her practices. “So I really use that to kind of get my focus 100 percent and imagine what decisions I would make during the match. So I would say, I’m ready. We’ll see on court, but honestly, these practices tell me that I play like I wouldn’t even had a break. So it’s pretty nice. I feel like after my experiences with injuries, like when I was younger, 2019, I always came back fast. So I hope it’s not gonna change when I’m gonna get older, but I feel like I’m still capable to do that.”
Jelena Ostapenko brought her absolute best to Stuttgart on Tuesday as she absolute destroyed Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-1 in the round of 32. The Latvian smashed four aces, recorded 80% and 78% on the first and second serves respectively, and returned all five available break points to mark a dominant win. “I knew against her the main thing was to step in the court,” Ostapenko said. “Of course, I missed some balls but I tried to be aggressive all the time when it was possible. Just try to take the ball early, don’t give her many chances. And finally, I’m back on clay, my favorite surface.”
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“Probably [need] to bring back this fearlessness, but of course it’s tougher when you get older. You start to think more and of course you want to play better and more consistently,” the Latvian added later in the interview.
The loss must have been quite damaging to Raducanu’s confidence as she had not made any mark this season so far. She played in the Miami Open last and was ousted after her very first match against Canadian Bianca Andreescu. She suffered a second round exit at the Australian Open earlier this year where she was beaten by Coco Gauff.
