Iga Swiatek explained why she thinks she’s able to beat her opponents so dominantly so often after her opening win at the 2025 Indian Wells Open.
At the moment, there isn’t any player in tennis, male or female, who would be able to dominate matches as much as Swiatek does. She’s so dominant that there are even jokes about her having her own bakery.
The reason for that is simple. If a player wins a set 6-0, it’s called a bagel, and if they win it 6-1, it’s called a breadstick. One of these two scores appears in almost every match that the 23-year-old Pole plays, which shows how incredibly dominant she can be.
Swiatek can win matches dominantly, but the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina can do that too. What sets the Polish player apart is the fact that she seems to be able to do that in every other match that she plays.
That was the case also in her first match at the 2025 Indian Wells Open. She took on Caroline Garcia and completely dominated against the Frenchman, winning 6-2, 6-0.
After the match, the second seed was asked about her dominant win. Swiatek was asked why does she think she’s able to dominate so much, and also avoid being on the receiving end of such losses.
She said that regardless of what the scoreboard shows, she always keeps the same mindset and keeps trying to win every rally that she plays, which might be the reason for those straightforward scorelines.
“Well, I mean, there are many reasons. I don’t know. It’s just that I’m solid no matter what the score is, and I don’t take, you know, next games for granted. If I’m leading even 4-0, I know that I should keep playing the same way and keep the same attitude to just win the match.”
At the same time, if Swiatek loses, it’s usually a very close match. She’s happy that’s the case, because in her eyes, that means that playing against her is not simple.
“But for sure, the matches that I lose are usually much tighter, which means that it’s harder to win against me, I guess. But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to have matches that are huge battles and easy matches, but you can never expect and you can never just, I don’t know, try to predict. Doesn’t make sense.”
Swiatek will try to be similarly dominant also in the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells. After beating Garcia, she will face another proper challenge. The Pole will take on Dayana Yastremska, who stunned the 32nd-seeded Ons Jabeur in the second round of the tournament.
