September 2, 2021,
You must have the presence of mind to look in your rear view mirror to see her coming.
Because she is coming. Charging.
Mostly you’ve looked into the right and left side mirrors. That’s understandable.
Your training has taught you to stay in the present, with an eye to the future, and it is pointless to look behind you.
Unless you have Poland’s Iga Swiatek on your side of the draw. It’s okay to stay focused, yet take a peek.
Sports Psychologists all over the world should be rooting for Iga Swiatek at this year’s 2021 US Open.
She is a former 2020 French Open champion. It was as though she came out of nowhere. An incredible break through.
Iga uses the services of a Sports Psychologist.
We sense many parents around the world who hope to turn their child into the next teen tennis Phenom are contemplating acquiring the services of a Sports Psychologist. If it works for Iga, it might work for their young tennis player too.
We sure hope so.
We’re rooting for Sports Psychologists all over the world. With our mind and eyes.
A little puzzled how the Psychologists differ depending upon their field.
Isn’t a Tennis Coach a Sports Psychologist?
Haven’t Sports Psychologists been performing and masquerading as Tennis Coaches for years at the US Open? Presently, are they just going by a different name?
Maybe not. Maybe there actually is more to it than meets the eye. Daria’s eyes.
Sport psychology is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from many related fields including biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology and psychology.
It involves the study of how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sport and exercise affect psychological and physical factors.
Sport psychologists teach cognitive and behavioral strategies to athletes in order to improve their experience and performance in sports. In addition to instruction and training of psychological skills for performance improvement, applied sport psychology may include work with athletes, coaches, and parents regarding injury, rehabilitation, communication, team building, and career transitions.
It is also closely associated with Sports psychiatry.
We understand.
We also understand, at least in times past, they are not supposed to coach during the match. Right?
What they seem to do instead is roll their eyes a lot. Up, down, far left, far right, sideways and the powerful extended blank stare. Two blinks for this. Three blinks for that. Four swift blinks means “what the heck are you doing”?
That we understand.
At times the players didn’t seem to.
But Ms. Swiatek appears to have taken this to a whole different level. A higher path.
Her Sports Psychologist is Daria Abramowicz. She says things like, “Even on her worst day, Iga is open-minded.”
Okay. Is there something there that we are missing? If she keeps this up, we may need a translator.
Daria certainly has the qualifications.
The team at tennismajors.com chronicles some of Daria’s accomplishments. They express her vast experience in sports include sailing competitively for 12 years and then coaching for more than 10 years.
Fine. That is one definition of vast. All said and done, it really doesn’t matter what others think. It is the way the Daria has Iga thinking.
Like a winner.
They add that since she is familiar with all points of views, having been an athlete, a coach and a psychologist, Daria describes her approach as holistic. She always tries to see the big picture.
Most likely with big eyes.
When she coached, we wonder if she blinked three or four times during Iga’s matches?
We must admit, given Iga’s results we are intrigued with what Daria is doing. We have researched video of her overlooking Iga’s workouts. It’s right out of a Zen movie.
When asked by Tennis Majors magazine about how they could recognize her influence on the court, Daria replied, “You can probably see it between the games: how she approaches the changeovers, the way she breathes or does some other things. And in between points, you can see how she just turns her back to the match, thinks a little bit and takes a breath.”
Very analytical.
Good to know. We’re going to watch for that during the 2021 Open.
We are going to also watch Iga for great reasons. Here resume is incredible.
Iga Świątek is a Polish professional tennis player. She is the youngest player in the top ten of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, and has a career-high No. 7 in the world.
She was the champion at the 2020 French Open and is the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam singles title in history. With her French Open title, she also became the youngest singles champion at the tournament since Rafael Nadal in 2005, and the youngest women’s singles champion since Monica Seles in 1992.
Ms. Świątek has an all-court style of play. She won the WTA Fan Favorite Shot of the Year in 2019 with a drop shot from the baseline, and was voted WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year in 2020.
Some players limp into the US Open. Others, like Iga are surging.
As reported at wtatennis.com, “No.15 seed Iga Swiatek was in ruthless form as she routed No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in just 46 minutes in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final. No.15 seed Iga Swiatek was in ruthless form as she routed No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in just 46 minutes in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final.”
That was no small feat.
If you remember, Karolina is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women’s Tennis Association rankings on July 17, 2017 and holding the position for eight weeks.
Every year there is a dark horse at the US Open who surprises and dazzles. We are excited that this year it might be Iga. Everything that we’ve researched about her indicates she could have a major breakthrough.
Again.
Americans Serena Williams, due to a hamstring injury and Sofia Kenin, due to a Covid infection will not play this year.
The field is wide open.
On Tuesday, August 31, 2021, Iga was penciled in to play the American Jamie Loeb.
Ms. Loeb has a career-high WTA rankings of 132 in singles, achieved in February 2018, and 120 in doubles, achieved in July 2018. Loeb has won eight singles titles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
The American star has some major accomplishments.
She won the New York State high-school title as a sophomore. She also won the singles and doubles U18s championships at the 2012 USTA National Winter Championship, and won the doubles at the 2013 USTA International Spring Championship. She attended the University of North Carolina for her freshman and sophomore years (2013–15), and won the singles NCAA Championship in 2015.
Jamie has won her last three matches at the qualifiers to earn the right to challenge Iga.
We are impressed.
Apparently Iga was impressed too and did not take her lightly.
She defeated Jamie in two sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Iga seems to be on a mission. The higher seeds should be looking in their rear view mirrors.
Iga is coming. Swiftly. With a Sports Psychologist in tow.
We will keenly watch Iga’s play.
And Daria’s eyes.
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OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Peter-Menzel-Iga-Swiatek-Wikipedia-photo-credit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_%C5%9Awi%C4%85tek
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Loeb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_psychology
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/