Iga's mental coach Daria Abramowicz: “Keeping your standards high and your expectations low”

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Daria Abramowicz: “I am so proud of her, because it was so hard”

As Iga Świątek clinched her fourth trophy at Roland-Garros and so her fifth Grand Slam title, we asked her sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, to open the window a bit into the Swiatek’s version of…

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Daria Abramowicz can smile and relax a bit now that Iga Swiatek finished the job. Madrid – Rome – Roland-Garros : a performance for the ages. Case closed. Some people are going to shrug and say that Swiatek’s margin is so big on clay right now that of course she was going to win. Of course, she was always going to win because she’s just so good, right? It makes Abramowicz roll her eyes. There’s no “of course” at this level, even less when everybody says in circles that you cannot lose. No, it wasn’t a walk in the park to win that fourth Roland-Garros title. Not at all.

“Everyone was giving her the trophy after Rome already. Then again here when Arena and Elena lost. Which is tough,” Abramowicz told us at the player’s café after the win. “You can stay in your zone, focused and disciplined, but it will come to you day after day. You will listen to it and see it.”

So how did Iga still find a way through that pressure from outside?
“The key was: being close to yourself, remembering what you wanted to do, keeping your standards high and your expectations low. I am proud of her, because it was so hard. From that perspective, I’m 100% sure it’ll empower her.

Empowering Iga Świątek has been the daily job of Abramowicz, and the mental work done with the very emotional World No.1 keeps paying off. Swiatek came back from the brink against Naomi Osaka, the same way she did against Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid. We tend to call it the champion’s mindset: these athletes are special and will repeat crazy escapes and wins on the edge. Swiatek clinching a fifth Grand Slam title at 23, four at Roland-Garros and keeping also a strong hand on the rest of the Tour is a performance that shouldn’t be underestimated by the margin she has on the rest of the field.

So what does Abramowicz think: can that mindset be built through training or is Swiatek so special?
A bit of both.

Environmental mastery in psychology is defined as the capacity to manage one’s life and surrounding world effectively. It’s a tough ask indeed for a team but Sweater’s one has proved at Roland-Garros again that they could deal with whatever is surrounding their player as long as needed for her to shine. In this way, they also absorb a lot of that external pressure.

So, indeed, you can train a champion’s mindset?
“Absolutely,” says Abramowicz. As everything Swiatek related, the tool box is a mix of pragmatism and human nature knowledge. “Sometimes, technology helps us with a data-driven approach. We try to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. We have a data-driven approach in terms of the body and nervous system, tension, stress. We have also observations: Iga’s subjective feelings, thoughts and beliefs that are affecting the process, and sometimes in a bigger manner than data.”

“We can have data in perfect order and still see a player who was playing great at the warm-up, suddenly choking when the match starts. We need to combine this. We can train this in a very modern way, helping ourselves with the technology, but also talking, digging deep, working on beliefs, on thoughts, refocusing, reaffirming, identifying emotions, using mindfulness to stay here and now, using mental training tools. In this modern world, with the pressure, tension, social media, external expectations, business side of things: we just cannot avoid digging deep. It’s psychology in sports, whatever the strategies.”

The key to unlock Sweater’s potential in the ways we’ve seen again in Paris this year was always going to be through her mind. You cannot turn an emotional individual into a cold-blooded winning machine: it’s a myth. Abramowicz doesn’t want to use the word “control” when talking about Sweater’s emotions, she prefers saying “regulate.”

“The difference between controlling and regulating is that with control you try fight it but with regulating, you find healthy ways in appropriate moments to express your emotions. I was stunned where people asked Iga why did you cry after the Osaka match: it’s completely human because you need to regulate the emotions, and especially emotional people need to do this even more. Some people would scream, get enraged, would cry: it’s life. But it’s especially important with emotional people.”

“WITH REGULATING, YOU FIND HEALTHY WAYS IN APPROPRIATE MOMENTS TO EXPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS”​

 

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“THE LOSSES WILL COME, BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS SOMETHING ELSE”​

Swiatek keeps being that good because she’s prepared to win in a very holistic approach. Because not a single detail is left to chance. Because she has a team fully aware that they’re not dealing with a super hero but with a young woman having to deal with strong emotions on the daily. So, it’s no surprise that they’re also preparing her for the day the defeat will come again.

“I keep things realistically. My narrative was also like ‘The losses will come. You will eventually lose, maybe in a moment you don’t expect.’ But the most important thing is something else: whether you win or lose, you leave your whole mind, body and heart on court. You need to look at yourself in the mirror and say I did my best. It might not be enough but you did your best so there’s no regrets. Regret is an anchor that keeps us in the past: it’s the if.” There will be no if this time again at Roland-Garros when Iga Swiatek looks back at that 2024 edition. She mastered everything in the best possible way, starting with her own inner storms… as she’s been trained to do for years. The Very Disciplined Wonder.

 

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« We didn’t know how she was going to react,» Maciej Ryszczuk built Iga Swiatek’s body to support her mind

Maciej Ryszczuk has been working on turning Iga Swiatek into a top athlete for the past four years. He told us how it paid off through that clay season.

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Maciej Ryszczuk built Iga Swiatek’s body to support her mind​

Maciej Ryszczuk, the physiotherapist, who is also a strength and conditioning coach, has been working on turning Iga Swiatek into a top athlete for the past four years. He told us how it paid off through that clay season.

Last year, Swiatek got a thigh injury in Rome, and in Ryszczuk’s words, « it was risky even if it ended well. » But this year might still be the clay season that surprised him the most because everything was set for some tough challenges, and yet Swiatek got through. « To be honest, this year, we didn’t know how she was going to react. She played a lot of tournaments in a row, so I wasn’t so sure. All my data said it should be fine. We were thinking that if she could handle it mentally… Because it’s the same routine for ten weeks: it’s a lot, and it can get boring… But if she could accept, mentally, to push, then we knew her body was supposed to handle it, too. »

And it did. Swiatek has repeatedly praised Ryszczuk’s work and influence in her rise to the top of the game. The Pole is amongst the least injured players on Tour and showed quite the recovery skills and strength this year by going through the BJK Cup, Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome, and Roland-Garros. The funny thing for Ryszczuk is that it wasn’t a done deal four years ago when he started to work with her.

Of course, she has good genetics, but it’s still a lot of work. We pushed her, and I told her when we started that she could be tired during the tournaments, but it’s fine because we’re going to build through that year for the future. We’re not in the short-term, it’s not a sprint, it’s really a long-term view. »

To make sure the pieces of the puzzle would stay glued to each other until the victory at the French Open, Ryszczuk and the team got Swiatek through a rough training block in Warsaw after Miami. « The main training we did between changing surfaces when we had a little bit more time. We had a block of training with a lot of endurance and strength training, the same as the pre-season. » Yet he knows when too much is too much. He’d throw some funnier routines in, like playing football or some frisbee. And he’ll cut what needs to be cut: «When she was tired in Warsaw because we had this intense block, I told the team we’d have a short practice in the morning but cancel the other practice and go to karting. It was fun and refreshing. » Still, it was the exception because Swiatek wouldn’t want it in any other way: « She loves her routine. She doesn’t like to have to do different things, only from time to time. »

“SHE LIKES TO ARGUE WITH US”​

This very long and demanding clay season kind of broke their routine, though, and had Ryszczuk taking a gamble. « She has been fatigued many times, but my main goal is to monitor everything. With the coach, we need to decide when to push, when to stop, if there is a time to stop. This year, it was really good but also intense, so it was the first time that we gave her free days during a tournament between matches because we didn’t have any other option. It was the best option for me. After four years with her, I knew it would be good; it would fulfill her energy and give her time to recover. » So in Madrid, for example, Swiatek found herself enjoying strolling in the park and going shopping instead of training. And it worked.

« The funny thing is that normally, there’s no such thing as injury prevention in my way of thinking. If you don’t want to get injured, then just lay on your couch. If we build the strength capacity of the tissues, then the risk of injury is much lower. So, we are lowering her risk of injury by building her strength in different ranges of motions, in her capacity, tissue strength, and endurance. After this, she can recover faster, and then she should be more used to the fatigue she has experienced during the tournaments. »

“THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS INJURY PREVENTION “​

We tend to talk a lot about the need to peak at the right time, but Ryszczuk doesn’t believe in that. « Indeed, I don’t like this word. In tennis, I think it’s almost impossible because players would be dead tired in a lot of tournaments as, to peak, you need to push a little more, then a little bit more, then even more, but there is no time for this during the season. So, I prefer to stay at 80 or 90% of her maximum abilities all season, monitor her fatigue, and build through the year. »

“HER PHYSICAL ABILITY IS THE FOUNDATION “​

What’s interesting in the way Swiatek developed as a player is that you can see how getting stronger physically helped her mentally. She’s the emotional type, she needs to have reassuring anchors when things get overwhelming. The mental work done is one thing, the tennis skills are another, but the building of a strong body really blends it all together. « I think her physical ability is the foundation », said Ryszczuk. « When she is under pressure, under stress, it’s the main thing she can count on. When you are strong physically, you can always rely on it. It’s one of the main reasons she can handle the pressure, added to the mental and technical work. You can be strong mentally, but if you don’t have the physical condition, It’s not gonna help you. »

« Yes, there’s still a lot to improve with Iga, but there’s also the need to see that there is no need to crush it. More strength is maybe not necessary. I want her faster, with more power, but if we build more strength, it may not improve her tennis. I need to be careful. The main goal is to stay at this intensity with the same consistency. It’s maybe less about improving than about staying at the same level year after year. » When the sky is the limit, but you already stand at the top of the mountain, it’s fine to breathe a bit, indeed.