Iga Swiatek has had a head-spinning few years. Hers is the sort of breathtaking tennis story that requires a few historical stats in order to fully appreciate it: After her breakout win at the French Open in 2020, the then unknown 19-year-old Polish player became the youngest women’s singles champion at Roland Garros since Monica Seles in 1992. In the three years since, she’s won three more Grand Slam titles (another two at the French, plus one at last year’s US Open) and become the number one-ranked female tennis player in the world—a first for any Pole. She is the youngest woman to win four career major titles since Serena Williams in 2002 and, this summer, joined Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis as the third player to have held the top spot for 70 consecutive weeks.
How could any person keep up such an astonishing streak? Swiatek wonders the very same thing.
“After winning so many tournaments as I did last year, everybody kind of expected me to stay on the same level all the time,” the 22-year-old tells Vogue, “which is not possible.”
This sanguine philosophy comes from its own kind of rigorous work: The tennis star is the only player to travel with a full-time sports psychologist and is consistently vocal about the importance of mental health. “I feel like everybody on the top level plays great tennis, but it’s those who can mentally cope with the most stressful moments who are the champions,” she says, explaining that those strategies have helped keep her grounded as she’s continued to rise. “Even though so much has changed in my life, I feel like I’ve stayed the same person.”
I met the tennis star last week in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park. She’s in town, of course, for the US Open, but today she’s promoting her new partnership with the Swiss sneaker company On—following in the literal footsteps of another tennis great, Roger Federer, an investor in and spokesperson for the brand. Outside the Brooklyn courts—where she will play a few points with truly psyched locals—Swiatek tells Vogue about developing her own tennis shoe, her quirky pre-game rituals, and how it feels to return to the US Open as the defending champion.
Vogue: Tell me a bit about what brought you here today and why you decided to team up with On.
Iga Swiatek: I’ve always felt like On is going to be that brand that is really going to succeed—and I wanted to be a part of that. They’re really innovative and they focus on the performance, the technicalities. That’s something we share in terms of values, and I thought we could do such a great job promoting tennis worldwide. Obviously, they work with Roger. He worked on the shoe, but I also want to work on the apparel because On has great shoes, but I think more people should talk about the apparel — it’s amazing. Soon I’ll also have my own tennis shoe, which is exciting.
What was your relationship with Roger like before? Have you gotten to work more closely with him since partnering with On?
When Roger [retired], I was just entering the tour so the timing wasn’t perfect for us to be on tour together. I met him when I was already talking with On. Everything that he does is with so much class; they did such a great job creating his shoe. Roger’s a huge inspiration; he changed our game, basically. He was a big factor for me in making this decision.
You’re wearing a full On look, but this is not your official shoe yet.
This is probably one of the last prototypes. I’m kind of testing it and giving On feedback and they’re implementing all these changes. Hopefully I’ll be wearing my final shoe pretty soon.
And you have input on the apparel as well?
Yes, we talk mostly about the design because in terms of the technicalities, they’re doing such a great job that I don’t feel that I really need to be involved that much. We’re mostly talking about fit and design. I love colors, so I told them I would love to wear more colorful stuff at the US Open. I’m really happy that I’ll have my own collection; it’s really exciting.
Do you have a power color?
That’s a great question. I love purple. And I love green. Those are two colors that, in everyday life, are hard to wear [laughs]. I love purple, though; I’m pretty sure I’m going to convince On to do something purple in the future.
You’re returning to the US Open as the defending champion. How are you handling this moment?
For sure it’s a little bit harder to play with that in the back of your head, but you just have to focus on playing and doing what you love. [I try] not to think about what the media is saying and all the people around who have a lot of expectations. So mainly I’m just focusing on what I want to do on court. It allows me to perform better—not worrying about the expectations, just playing tennis.
You travel with a full-time psychologist. Are there any particular things you’ve been working on with your coaches?
When I was younger, I started working with psychologists. Right now I’m working with [sports psychologist] Daria Abramowicz, which is great because she can see day-by-day when I have a tough situation, or what happens when I succeed. You have to work on both of these things because dealing with success is also not easy.
You’ve been seen with tape covering your mouth during practice, which made quite a few headlines. This is another strategy to increase your endurance?
Yes, well, it’s one of the things; it just looks weird, that’s why people are talking about it [laughs]. We’re doing lots of stuff to improve and to physically make my body more durable and better and stronger.
You have a pre-match ritual of listening to rock music. Who are your go-to artists?
ACDC, Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin. But I’m not listening to that every day … I listened to “Welcome to the Jungle” for a long, long time before matches, so now I’m kind of switching it up. I’m also listening to Janis Joplin and Lenny Kravitz, so it’s not only rock-rock. I don’t really want to focus on just one because I don’t want it to become a superstition.
And you’re a Taylor Swift fan, right? Does she ever make it onto the playlist?
I don’t know if she creates that kind of music [laughs]. She’s the kind of artist who I really want to focus on when I’m listening and to understand the emotions and lyrics. I wouldn’t choose to listen to Taylor Swift before a match, but overall, she’s great.
You’ve written an essay about being an introvert, yet your tennis style is anything but reserved. Have you given much thought to the difference between your personality and game style?
It’s huge. Yeah, I’m a different person on court. I’m really competitive. I enjoy the points and being aggressive in terms of my game style. But I never really analyzed that because I felt like it’s natural; I’m kind of switching into this beast mode for the match, and you have to do that to perform your best game. I’m much calmer off court. I don’t like noise, I don’t like crowded places. So, yeah, totally different.
You’re a big reader both on and off court. What are you reading now?
Now I’m reading [Delia Owens’s] Cry of the Kalahari. I love it; it’s like watching National Geographic but actually imagining everything. I’m also doing the reading challenge on Instagram. I just want people to read more. Everyone spends so much time on social media and YouTube, all these streaming services, that people kind of forget that reading is also a great way to spend your free time. It’s really nice to connect with people and talk about books, not just sports.
It’s a nice way to engage with your social following about doing something offline.
Yeah, you need balance in everything. It’s easy for me to not use my phone for the whole day. I feel like because of books, I can find more balance, more peace of mind. If I don’t read for a couple of weeks, I feel like I have too much chaos in my life.
You’re involved with many charitable organizations. What’s the thought process for you on who you choose to support?
Right now, I feel like if you’re a public person, everybody is expected to speak about everything. So I’m kind of choosing what I want to speak about and what I want to do, who I want to help or what causes. For sure, you know, mental health is always important to me. When the war in Ukraine started, I also wanted to help. So these are kind of two things that I focused on, but obviously in the world, we have so many issues and problems, but the thing is that I still want to be able to [be balanced] and be able to focus on tennis.
How will you spend your last weekend before the Open?
I have one day off on Friday, which I’m going to enjoy because I really like New York. I got to know the city a little bit more last year; I already have my favorite spots and restaurants. So I’m probably going to do that — and maybe some shopping!
