Insolite - Swiatek didn't know her fate wasn't in her own hands at the WTA Finals

© AFP

Guillaume Nonque

le 08/11/2024 à 10h02

2 min to read

Gauff Krejcikova WTA Finals

We witnessed a rather surprising scene at Iga Swiatek's press conference after her victory over Daria Kasatkina in her third and final group match in Riyadh.

The world No.2 was unaware that her fate was not in her own hands, and she realized this when she was asked the first question.

A Barbora Krejcikova victory over Coco Gauff would doom her in any case. Indeed, this was the scenario that unfolded later in the day, effectively eliminating the Pole.

But the match between Gauff and Krejcikova had not yet been decided at the time of Swiatek's press conference, and although she tried to put things into perspective afterwards, she was almost stunned when she heard the news.

Iga Swiatek (extremely surprised): "You mean the result (against Kasatkina) didn't matter?

Honestly, I don't think it makes any difference, because we go out on court to win every match anyway. So I wasn't thinking about that. But I didn't know that was the case.

I think I'm professional enough to always give 100% no matter what's at stake, you know so no, it didn't matter.

If I get to the semi-finals, it's going to be great and I'm going to enjoy it. If I don't make the semi-finals, then I'll have a few days off. I can't go back in time and play better. You know, that match I played against Coco (she lost 6-3, 6-4 to Gauff in her 2nd group match).

I think I did everything I could to be there. The first match with Barbora (she beat Krejcikova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2) was pretty close and I managed to raise my level. So I'm proud of that match anyway, and of course it's going to be pretty heartbreaking if Barbora is the second qualifier (along with Gauff), but that's life and that's the tournament.

It's a pretty special system, you know, so one year you can benefit from the positive aspects of it and one year obviously you can be eliminated because of the same system. But those are the rules and we have to adapt."