Iga Swiatek gave cold response to media after disappointing defeat vs Jessica Pegula

The Polish player analyzed her defeat against the American in the US Open quarterfinals

American tennis player Jessica Pegula defeated WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the US Open quarterfinals with a score of 6-2 6-4. This is the first Slam semifinal for the American tennis player: a magical tournament for the North American colors, considering that Emma Navarro also reached the semifinals (without counting the all-United States semifinal of the men’s singles between Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz). Great match played by Pegula and with Swiatek definitely too foul-prone.

After the defeat against the American, the WTA No.1 analyzed the defeat in a press conference, explaining (also in a critical way against the media) what the expectations are on her at every turn.

“When you go to a tournament, they want to know what my goal is, to win the final, the semifinal and it’s just not that. Those are not my goals when I go to a tournament,” she said.

The media reminded Iga of how she said she had lower expectations for herself at the US Open, asking if she said that to take the pressure off herself.

“I remember how it was last year, and, you know, I’m not going to expect myself to win all the time. I’m focusing more on work. And it’s more of an answer, because when I talk to you guys, because everybody always talks about results right away when you go into a tournament, they want to know what my goal is, I don’t know, to win the final, the semifinal, and that’s not really the case, you know. Those are not my goals when I go into a tournament. That’s my answer, because I want to explain that I don’t expect results from myself.

I expect more that I’m going to work, I’m going to face some problems and work on them, and that’s it. I always try to have lower expectations, because I know that, like, any of us can win this tournament, and it’s not going to be easy, you know. And then, I feel like when I have high expectations, I never perform well. So I try to lower them. It’s not that they’re just low, you know, because it’s hard to have low expectations when everybody’s expecting something from you, and you kind of know that you might have a match to play well,” explained Swiatek.