Iga Swiatek is thrilled about the next season as well as the much-awaited returns of Naomi Osaka and Rafael Nadal as she improves her game in preparation for beginning her 2024 campaign in Australia.
Osaka is expected to compete in her first tournament since September 2022 when she returns from her maternity leave at Brisbane International in the first week of January.
Osaka gave birth to her daughter Shai in July and received a wildcard into Brisbane, while Rafael Nadal is anticipated to play for the first time since the 2023 Australian Open in January after missing time due to a hip injury that needed surgery.
Following their extended absence from professional tennis, Swiatek is interested to see how both players will be playing.
She expressed her thoughts about both players in a recent discussion and said: “I like to watch them, so just from a fan perspective, I’m really happy that they are coming back and I’m going to be able to see their game. Rafa is a huge inspiration for me, so I just hope he’s going to play nicely.”
Swiatek added: “Naomi, we may play against each other, so it’s pretty funny but I’m happy that she’s back and she could fulfil her other goals and now come back to playing tennis. I’m just curious how they’re going to play and if they’re going to be rusty or not but they are both experienced so I hope they’re going to go well.”
Swiatek will be hoping to win gold for Poland in the tennis competition at the Olympics, which will take place at the same Roland Garros clay-court location in Paris.
She concluded her discussion and said: “Yes, for sure, it’s a big goal. We’re going to have some time to think about that before the clay season. But for now, I’m just thinking about Australia and trying not to go too far because the season is long and a lot of things can happen. But I’m really happy that I have the opportunity to play some mixed doubles with Hubi, to test it out and to practice a little bit before the Olympics because getting a medal there would be a dream come true for sure.”
In our dictionary, @iga_swiatek is a synonym for remarkable resilience 🔥
Here’s to the first Smash of the Clash winner of the day 🙌#WTL #WorldTennisLeague #MeteoraDevelopers #Day1 #Tennis #AbuDhabi #UAE #IgaSwiatek pic.twitter.com/MiYEC4TfZf— World Tennis League (@TennisWorl76726) December 21, 2023
Iga Swiatek in 2023
LWWWWLWWWW Now ranked no.1, Iga played her last match on the 6th of November when she defeated world no.5 Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-0 in the final in Cancun to win her 17th career title.
Until now, during this year the Pole achieved a composed 68-11 win-loss record. The Pole conquered 6 titles in 2023 in Doha, Stuttgart, French Open, Warsaw, Beijing and Cancun. The Pole was the finalist in Dubai and Madrid.
Naomi Osaka in 2023
LWWWLWLWLW At the moment ranked no.661, Naomi played her last match on the 20th of September 2022 when she had to retire when playing against world no.205 Daria Gavrilova in the 1st round and the scoreline was 1-0 .
Presently, during this year Osaka achieved a compiled 14-9 match record.
Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka clashed against each other only 2 times. Their record is 1-1. Before, the last time they locked horns, Iga Swiatek won 6-4 6-0 in the final in Miami (Miami Open) in April 2022.
You can see them in action in the following highlights.
Rafael Nadal in 2023
Ranked world no.666, Rafael played his last match on the 18th of January when he lost to world no.41 Mackenzie Mcdonald 6-4 6-4 7-5 in the 2nd round in the Australian Open (draw).
This year Nadal has a 1-3 win-loss record.
