By Reem Abulleil<\/p>\n
\u201cW<\/span>hen Iga Swiatek plays tennis, three things come to mind: beauty, power, and truth,\u201d wrote record-breaking alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin in a piece she penned for\u00a0Time<\/i>\u00a0in honour of Swiatek making the magazine\u2019s iconic list of 100 Most Influential People in 2023.<\/p>\n At just 21 years old, Swiatek has already put together a Hall-of-Fame-worthy CV, winning 13 titles, including three Grand Slams, and spending 56 consecutive weeks as world No.1 \u2013 and counting.<\/p>\n Making the\u00a0Time 100<\/i>\u00a0list is the latest of a string of honours Swiatek has earned in her young career so far, and it definitely won\u2019t be the last. After clinching a second Roland-Garros crown and a first US Open title in 2022, she was named Polish Sports Personality of the Year, dethroning star footballer Robert Lewandowski.<\/p>\n She is nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award \u2013 winners will be announced on May 8 \u2013 and has emerged as a seemingly unstoppable force on the WTA tour, combining her famous heavy topspin with an all-court game she consistently and ruthlessly utilises to take down her opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m pretty proud of myself that I made it (the Time 100 list), and it’s such a great honour,\u201d Swiatek told reporters in Stuttgart last week, where she successfully defended her title by defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final.<\/p>\n \u201cMikaela did a great job of writing everything, so I had goosebumps, and this is something that has really motivated me to work harder next year.\u201d<\/p>\n While Swiatek\u2019s weapons have proven to be effective on multiple surfaces, clay is where she is the most devastating. Her supreme movement on the red dirt is second to none; no doubt inspired by her biggest idol, THE\u00a0King of Clay<\/i>\u00a0Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n A two-time champion in Rome, Stuttgart and Roland-Garros, Swiatek arrives at the Spanish capital this week looking to add the Mutua Madrid Open trophy to her ever-growing collection of silverware.<\/p>\n Swiatek had to miss the action at the Caja Magica last year due to a shoulder injury and has only competed in Madrid once before, back in 2021 when she lost to Ashleigh Barty in the round of 16. She has gone 32-2 win-loss on clay since that defeat to Barty.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I’m ready for anything,\u201d Swiatek said after a hard-fought three-set win over Karolina Pliskova in the Stuttgart quarter-finals last Friday.<\/p>\n It was quite the statement from the world No.1, who quickly shook off the rust from a 33-day break from competition, during which she nursed a rib injury back home in Poland.<\/p>\n In the semi-finals last Saturday, Swiatek consoled a tearful Ons Jabeur, who had to retire with a calf injury just three games into the contest, and told her they will likely square off in this year\u2019s French Open final. Later, Swiatek was asked if she considered herself and Jabeur to be the best two clay-court players on tour right now.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. I think so,\u201d Swiatek acknowledged with a smile. \u201cLooking at our achievements and consistency, and Ons, she won Madrid, she played final of Charleston last year, this year she won, final of Rome. Yeah, we’re just pretty good on clay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPretty good\u201d is certainly and understatement.<\/p>\n Swiatek admits she is keeping her expectations low for Madrid, given the adjustments she will have to make in order to deal with the altitude, but she already knows what\u2019s high up on her priority list upon touching down in the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n \u201cI really like the tournament in terms of the conditions and food. I’m going to eat some pulpo for sure,\u201d she told WTA Insider on Sunday.<\/p>\n Swiatek has a bye in the first round and opens her Madrid campaign against former US Open champion Emma Raducanu or a qualifier.<\/p>\n Fellow Grand Slam winners Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova \u2013 two of only three women to score victories over Swiatek this season \u2013 are both in her quarter of the draw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Reem Abulleil \u201cWhen Iga Swiatek plays tennis, three things come to mind: beauty, power, and truth,\u201d wrote record-breaking alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin in a piece she penned for\u00a0Time\u00a0in honour of Swiatek making the magazine\u2019s iconic list of 100 Most Influential People in 2023. At just 21 years old, Swiatek has already put together a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":83668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[875,837,843],"tags":[835,902,831],"class_list":["post-83667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mutua-news-en","category-noticias-tenis-en","category-noticias-tenis-femenino-en","tag-2023-es-en","tag-iga-swiatek-en","tag-mutua-madrid-open-en-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83670,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83667\/revisions\/83670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}