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'Reputation'? Try again: Iga Swiatek is in her 'faster hard courts' era

The old Iga Swiatek can't come to the phone right now. Why? Because she's crushing it at the Australian Open.

ByBaseline Staff

Published Jan 22, 2025

The old Iga Swiatek can't come to the phone right now. Why? Because she's crushing it at the Australian Open.

The world No. 2 has been dominant at Melbourne Park so far this year, having booked a spot in the semifinals for the second time in her career with a dominant run through five rounds. Swiatek has dropped just 14 games in 10 sets, six of which came in her 6-4, 6-2 win over Katerina Siniakova—the fourth fewest of any woman in the Open Era.

While we wouldn't go so far as to say that the fourt-time Roland Garros champion is reinventing herself with this scintillating hard-court form (she has won the US Open, after all), the tour's biggest fan of Taylor Swift says that her fans might currently align her with Swift's "Reputation" era, one where Swift famously deviated from her previous musical stylings as a response to public scrutiny.

Swiatek disagees, though.

"I'm in my own era, I guess. Faster hard courts era."

Read more: A double-bounce goes Iga Swiatek's way against Emma Navarro—along with most everything else

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Indeed, Swiatek has been in an era all her own at Melbourne Park, and two more similar performances will hand the 23-year-old a sixth career Grand Slam singles title.

But after candidly revealing that in recent months that she's worked in recent months to loosen the reins, relax, and enjoy life more, no longer thinking about "only tennis, tennis, tennis," she might have more in common with that era of Swift's music than she thinks.

Read more: 2025 Australian Open women's semifinal preview: Iga Swiatek vs. Madison Keys

"I'm proud that I've been doing the same kind of work with good intensity and just pushing my opponents from the beginning of the matches," she said after a 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals.

"These tournaments are long," she continued. "Even if you start amazing, something can happen during the two weeks. I wouldn't say something feels super different. Probably, I feel like I'm relaxed and just focused on the right things. I don't have anything that is disturbing me.

"I just have the right mindset and attitude and right focus, and this is the base, I would say. Then I can play my tennis and not really think too much about other stuff."