World primary Iga Swiatek mentioned she had felt the strain and wanted to “chill”, after struggling a surprising exit within the Australian Open final 16 on Sunday.
The Pole got here into Melbourne Park as a red-hot favorite for the primary Grand Slam of the yr, however was overpowered in straight units by Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina at Rod Laver Area.
The 21-year-old Swiatek admitted she buckled below the burden of expectation as her dream of a fourth main crown — however first in Australia — was shattered.
“Nicely, for positive, previous two weeks have been fairly onerous for me,” a downcast Swiatek informed reporters
“I felt immediately that I haven’t got that a lot left to struggle much more,” she mentioned.
“I felt like I took a step again when it comes to how I strategy these tournaments, and I possibly wished it slightly bit too onerous.
“So I’ll attempt to sit back slightly bit extra.”
Moscow-born Kazakh Rybakina, whose energy sport proved an excessive amount of for the usually rock-solid Swiatek, now faces a quarter-final in opposition to Jelena Ostapenko.
The Latvian seventeenth seed supplied the second upset of a loopy couple of minutes at Melbourne Park by knocking out Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-3 on the neighbouring Margaret Courtroom Area.
Swiatek dominated girls’s tennis in 2022 after the retirement of final yr’s Australian Open champion Ashleigh Barty, at one level occurring a 37-match unbeaten streak to turn out to be the lady everybody needs to beat.
“I felt the strain,” Swiatek admitted. “I felt that I did not wish to lose as a substitute of desirous to win.”
The 6ft tall (1.82m) Rybakina all the time gave the impression to be accountable for the match, significantly as soon as her first serve, one of many quickest within the girls’s sport, acquired into gear.
“Elena was the one which was extra stable immediately and I felt prefer it was extra about who’s going to place extra strain on, and she or he did that fairly effectively,” mentioned Swiatek.
Rybakina, the twenty second seed, slapped down six aces to Swiatek’s two and fired house 24 winners to the Pole’s 15.
“She served, you recognize, as she does normally,” mentioned Swiatek.
“I wished to place it again on her, however on my service video games I felt like I want to simply work actually, actually onerous to get any level as a result of my first serve wasn’t working.”
Swiatek mentioned she would try to recapture her gorgeous type of 2022.
“For positive I have to work on my mindset and struggle slightly bit extra, as I did final season,” she mentioned.
“I’ll take time proper now to form of reset.”