World Tennis League 2022: I have been working on our volley game, admits Iga Swiatek

The World No.1 Iga Swiatek admitted she has been working on her volley game. Swiatek, 21, feels there is still a lot of scope to keep learning at the top level. The Pole, representing the Kites at the World Tennis League in Dubai, defeated Caroline Garcia of the Eagles in straight sets.

The Polish player went on to win by 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday evening. The 21-year-old brought her best against Garcia but feels she needs to improve further for the 2023 challenges.

“There’s always something to improve. I’m 21, so I think I can actually do many things, but on volleys, especially, we’ve been working on my volley game.

“Rohan [Bopanna] taught me some volleys before the tournament,” she added, shouting out her Kites teammate, “So it’s his fault that I missed one of them on game point!”

Meanwhile, as per the format of the World Tennis League, each player gets one point for each game they win in a tie, plus one bonus point for a win in a third-set match tiebreak and five bonus points for winning the tie. However, Swiatek revealed she was not counting the games.

“Truth be told, I wasn’t counting games,” the Pole joked of the league’s unique scoring format. “I’m pretty confident I can focus on other things in matches, change something up with my tactics, or just implement what I’ve been working on in the off-season. The score isn’t the most important thing here.

“Mostly it’s fun and learning, so I’m pretty happy that I played such a solid game.”

Iga Swiatek will next take on former world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit in a face-off against the Hawks on December 22.

Meanwhile, after the first two days of action in the WTL 2022, the Hawks are currently in the top position in the standings with a total of 35 points. The Kites are in second place with 35 points but the Hawks have a better percentage of games won. The Eagles and the Falcons are in third and fourth place respectively with 27 points each.