MASON, Ohio — Just a little over 16 hours before she sat in front of reporters in Mason on Friday, Aug. 14, Iga Świątek was lifting the National Bank Open trophy nearly 500 miles away in Toronto. Świątek, the WTA's No. 5 ranked player, wasn't able to fully bask in the glory of her first WTA title this year. Because within hours of winning it, the Poland native was at the airport and ready to take a flight to the Cincinnati Open, where she'll try to defend her title from last year. Cincinnati Open Caty McNally Cincinnati's Caty McNally kicks off home tournament with revenge win Cincinnati Open Peyton Stearns Two WTA locals moving on in Cincinnati Open as Peyton Stearns advances "For sure the schedule is intense, and I've been speaking about that for years, so I don't want to repeat myself," Świątek, a longtime critic of the large tournament load in professional tennis, said. "There is no time to celebrate. You have time only after Grand Slams, I would say." But as much as Świątek quickly moved on from Toronto to Cincinnati, make no mistake: She had plenty to unpack on Friday regarding her recent stretch of tennis.
Before defeating Elena Rybakina in the National Bank Open final Thursday, Świątek, 25, was on pace to have arguably her most disappointing season since first breaking onto the WTA scene with her 2020 French Open victory. The six-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 had advanced to just one semifinal prior to Toronto and was at risk of exiting the WTA's top 10 without deep runs during the North American summer hard court stretch. Świątek also split with Wim Fissette, her coach for all of 2025, in March. She later partnered with Fransisco Roig, former alternate coach of Rafael Nadal, in April, but the two found little significant time to train together between tournaments. But then Świątek bowed out of Wimbledon's fourth round on July 4, giving her exactly one month without competition before Toronto began. Though Świątek felt like her training with Roig was working, it wasn't matriculating as well in matches as it was in practice, as she said her old mistakes came back throughout the clay and grass swing of the 2026 season. But after a two week training block with Roig between her time in England and Canada, she seemingly figured some things out in competition this past month. "I had time to reset after Wimbledon, and I came back on course much fresher and much more open to try new stuff," Świątek said. "The work (me and Fransisco) have done was a key to play better at this tournament and to play a game that is more patient." Świątek overcame past demons on the Toronto court, defeating players who beat her earlier in the season such as Marta Kostyuk, Elina Svitolina and Rybakina en route to the trophy. But she also wanted to address what had been haunting her off the court. In her post-final speech and media availabilities, Świątek called out those spreading negative about her online, especially critics from her home country. Though she said she "(gives) less s**t about it" now, she still felt angry about the noise, and went into further detail in Mason about how it affected her and her team. "Last month I faced it, my team faced it, and my goal was not for it to interrupt my process and define who I am," Świątek said of the criticism toward her. "It's just the world that we live in, and it shouldn't be like that. So I took yesterday's opportunity to just talk about it a little bit more, even if it helps one person or one young athlete try to do something with it, maybe it will help a little (with their struggles)." Now, Świątek will have at most two days of rest before she'll begin her Cincinnati title defense in the tournament's second round this coming weekend. As she looks to maintain her streak of winning a Grand Slam every year since 2022 at the U.S. Open, there will likely be decisions made about whether she'll try keeping up her momentum by chasing back-to-back Cincinnati trophies, or conserve energy for New York. Świątek says she'll take her recovery process day-by-day, and that she trusts her team to decide what's best for her at Cincinnati. But regardless of what she does at Cincinnati, it's clear that this stretch of the season is a major inflection point for last year's champion. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Iga Świątek season at inflection point after Toronto title