Words by Laura Markwardt. Photography by Bret Curry.

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) World No.1, Iga Świątek, says “tennis is a game of mistakes.” To be a champion, even at the peak of her game, is a complex, nuanced trajectory. Like any young athlete, she’s transparent about the pressure she often feels to win. From the first serve, Świątek holds court, steering the dreams of a nation with every match, “I often feel situations where I have the whole weight of Poland on my shoulders,” she says.

Świątek was born in Warsaw. Her affinity, and affection for her roots–both an elite tennis player and as a young woman navigating the professional world–defines her identity. It keeps her questioning how she can get better, and how she can leverage her influence to give back to a supportive community-at-large.

Her privilege to inspire the hopes and dreams of the next sporting generation, has been earned. And Świątek commits to respecting it. “I don’t believe in magic,” she says, “I believe in the power of hard work.”

Świątek may be grounded, but her unwavering drive for victory has launched her name into the sporting stratosphere. The Polish pro has currently held the leading WTA singles ranking for over 95 weeks. From 2020 onwards, Świątek took three French Open wins over four years—"It's pretty surreal” she said before accepting the trophy a third time on her favorite surface—the red clay of Roland-Garros in 2023. Świątek won her first WTA final that same year, and the Warsaw-born star was voted Polish Sports Personality of the Year by the public in her home country. 

Świątek is in her early-twenties. But she stands apart from many of her young contemporaries, manifesting her dreams not through words, but through action. “I don’t think we’re able to do everything we think of,” she continues, “but I believe grit, determination and being true to yourself always pays off.” Świątek’s humanity, and authenticity is a bridge to others.

On court, Świątek switches from nuanced and sensitive, to straight-up dominant. In a play for power, she holds her racket in a ‘western forehand grip’, “Somehow it works. You can really put a lot of spin when you hold a racket like that.” Case in point: Her topspin forehand averaged a breathtaking 73 mph (117 km/h) at the 2020 French Open.

Her ability to possess the most powerful part of herself and to harness and control the intensity of her play is, “a work in progress,” says Świątek. She’s a lifelong student, as much as a dedicated athlete, “I use every tool and knowledge to be better every day.”

Understanding where gains can be made is “very complex work,” she says. To help Świątek simplify and execute on that work, she’s built a trusted, elite team with specialization across every pillar of her athletic focus.

“My coach, Tomasz [Wiktorowski] and I started by empowering my strengths, which made me a more aggressive player. The next step is improving some parts of my game, long-term,” she says. “I also work with my fitness coach [Maciej Ryszczuk] to handle every level of intensity. My psychologist [Daria Abramowicz] supports me with mental resources.”

It takes a village to raise the World No.1, and Świątek likes it that way. “It’s always a bigger picture. Every member of my team has their contribution and tasks to support me to do my best on court in every situation.”

Świątek’s access to leading performance technology and resources contrasts with her memories of growing up. “When I was starting as a young player [in Poland], I didn’t have as many opportunities and the amazing conditions to develop as I have now,” she says. “I appreciate all the challenges and difficulties I had in a country where tennis wasn’t so popular back then, because it shaped who I am.”

Warsaw in Poland itself, plays like a character in Świątek’s team too. As she travels the globe–from one court to the next–her home country represents a sanctuary: A place she knows well, where her community understands her origins, and the daily work that informs her success. Warsaw is both an inspiration to turn up the volume on each opportunity, and a beacon of quiet and familiarity in a training schedule sprinkled with multiple flash-bulb moments.

"I really miss Warsaw sometimes,” says Świątek wistfully. “I went to school there. I can come back to a different life than I have as a tennis player. I know this place and it makes me feel comfortable because of that."

Alongside Świątek’s team stands her father, Tomasz Świątek, a former Olympic rower, whose guidance on her early trajectory reads like a fairytale. “My dad had a huge role in it [my career]. He was determined and persistent in a way I wasn’t able to be as a kid.”

Tomasz Świątek—himself a retired professional rower who competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics—suggested Iga and her older sister, Agata, specialize in individual rather than team sports to better control their chances of success. In Tomasz, Iga had an early role model. She would go on to emulate her father. 

“My father influenced me in many ways,” she says. “Without him I wouldn’t be where I am now; as a person, and as a tennis player. His determination in my early years is something I admire.”

The gratitude Świątek gives for her father’s early influence today, is the gratitude she pays forward to other young players at home, “I would just like to give inspiration to the younger generation,” she says. “I know what it’s like to not have enough money or a good venue to train, so using my current status, I try to make it easier for the next generation of young players and athletes. Promotion of tennis, and of my country, is one of the ways to do it.”

Much like her game, Świątek’s philanthropic work is focused, and from the heart–she has donated prize money to Polish non-profit foundations to celebrate World Mental Health Day, and joined forces with UNICEF Poland to support children in war-torn Ukraine.

Świątek has the power to give hope to others. On the flip-side, that correlates with a self-acknowledged pressure to sustain her reign, as a winner and a role model. Leveraging that pressure is where Świątek and her team can get creative: Mindset matters.

Like Roger Federer at the peak of his career, Świątek too, has the capacity to be humble in victory, and gracious in defeat.

At the start of this year (January 2024), Świątek’s 18-match unbeaten run was broken when she was knocked out of the Australian Open in the third round. Her response was sanguine, “I'm going to have plenty of chances during the season to show my game." Just weeks later, at the first WTA 1000 event of 2024, Świątek had taken her third Doha title in a row.

This March [2024] Świątek emerged victorious at the Indian Wells Open, California. She reclaims the title from her last win there in 2022, on the hard courts of ‘the unofficial fifth tennis major.’

It tops off a two-week run where Świątek didn’t drop a single set—the fewest games lost en route to the title in 30 years. After the win, she told the WTA team, “...you just feel like your game is better than anyone out there.” 

When I ask Świątek how she’s preparing for the world stage this summer, her mind is, understandably, preoccupied. “It’s going to be challenging, and there’s lots of expectation out there. But, for the moment I have other challenges right in front of me,” she says. “I’ll stay present and focused on the here and now.”

The measured response of Świątek under pressure is–like that ability to control the intensity of  her game–a work in progress. She’d rather not be called a “defending” champion, but a champion “focused on her goals.” By that token, Świątek’s words are a conscious choice. Facts, over feelings, “We’ll put in a lot of hard work to prepare in every way we can control,” she says.

Świątek tells me about her latest “kind of homework” from her performance psychologist, Abramowicz–a behavioral-based workbook around living with perfectionism and finding balance. “My perfectionism is pretty hard on me,” she admits. The irony here isn’t lost. Perfectionist traits have enabled Świątek to dominate the game pretty much since her breakout win at the French Open in 2020.

If finding balance is one of her goals, then to friends and fans, that balance shines through two facets of Świątek’s character: vulnerability and courage.

In 2023, Świątek received an “incredible honor,” making Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

Mikaela Shiffrin, the American World Cup alpine skier, who holds the most World Cup wins of any alpine skier in history, penned Świątek’s praise, “Throughout her rise to the top…Iga has shown vulnerability and courage…she embodies the kind of confidence that everyone should emulate—the confidence of action over mere talk,” said Shiffrin of Świątek.

For her part, Świątek namechecks Shiffrin—alongside her father and the Ukrainian tennis player, Elina Svitolina, as a personal hero, “Mikaela [Shiffin] is…an amazing human being who uses her voice to make an impact.” 

Like these high-profile accolades, the books that Świątek reads hold a lens up to the real Świątek, beyond her performance on court. She tells me the book she’s learned the most from recently is Atlas Of The Heart, by Dr. Brené Brown, “I understood myself and my emotions better thanks to this one.” Later, I read a quote from Brown’s book; “Vulnerability is not weakness, it’s our greatest measure of courage.” Świątek lives her learnings. 

And that learning continues. It informs every win, every challenge and every one of Świątek’s meticulously chosen words. “Not every player will win a Grand Slam,” she says, “but they can still influence lives, and create an important legacy that will make them happy, and change some things for the better.”

“I know that sometimes, even if you give your best, you won’t always succeed in the exact way you expect to,” she continues. “Life surprises us. Discovering what we really want is a process, too.” And if that’s not magic, then Świątek’s words–and actions to support young people with a dream at home–are the next best thing.