Iga Swiatek wants to learn from Novak Djokovic

Iga Swiatek has revealed a way she intends to “learn from” Novak Djokovic as she labelled the Serbian a “great example.”

The world No 2 suggested she may follow Djokovic’s approach of skipping some tournaments in order to peak for the Grand Slams in the future.

In the latter years of his incredible career, Djokovic has played a lighter schedule and mastered the art of finding his best tennis at the four majors.

Swiatek is set to make her return to action at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh having last competed at the US Open at the start of September.

The Polish star lost the world No 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka last week after she missed the WTA 1000 tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan.

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The five-time Grand Slam champion prioritised her search for a coach to replace Tomasz Wiktorowski, who she parted ways with after the US Open.

Swiatek appointed renowned Belgian coach Wim Fissette, who has worked with a host of WTA stars, including Naomi Osaka and Kim Clijsters.

The 23-year-old was asked about the challenge of making short-term sacrifices to benefit her career in the long run — as she did by taking a break to resolve her coaching situation.

“Well, yeah, honestly it’s not easy. I feel like, I don’t know, understanding some decisions, it’s more kind of a grown-up thing to do,” Swiatek explained.

“Understanding this long-term thing, for sure, is important if I want my career to be really long and balancing everything out. But honestly, well, sometimes it’s hard to make a decision.

“But when you do it, I don’t have any regrets usually. I’m an over-thinker. If I make a decision, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a good one. So basically I trust myself in that way.

“But for sure it was much harder, like, couple of years ago to make these kind of decisions. Now I feel like I know a bit more. Probably in the future I’m going to have to also make some decisions.

“You can see the most experienced players on tour, they are a bit older, skipping some tournaments, but actually being able to play their best
games on Grand Slams, the biggest events that they really care about.

“I think like Novak, for example, is a great example of that. We can learn from people like that.”

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