FILE PHOTO: Tennis - WTA Finals - Cancun, Mexico - November 6, 2023 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates with the trophy after winning her final match against Jessica Pegula of the U.S. REUTERS/Henry Romero
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Iga Swiatek will begin her Australian Open campaign with a first round match against former champion Sofia Kenin and the world number one said on Friday it was strange how different their career paths had been since their only meeting in 2020.
Swiatek beat Kenin 6-4 6-1 in the French Open final that year to claim her first Grand Slam title and has since collected two more trophies at Roland Garros as well as a U.S. Open crown to sit at the pinnacle of the sport.
Kenin reached a career-high of number four in the world in 2020 after winning the Melbourne Park major and finishing runner-up at the French Open but plummeted down the rankings to 235th last year due to injuries, illness and off-court issues.
"It kind of strikes me sometimes that my first Grand Slam final was against Sofia and now we're playing in the first round," Swiatek told reporters at Melbourne Park.
"It's pretty weird. That's how our life journeys kind of went apart."
Kenin has steadily worked her way back up the rankings to 38th and Swiatek is not taking the American lightly.
"I know she's been playing some solid tennis," Swiatek said. "She was playing in Abu Dhabi. It's not going to be easy. I'll just get prepared the same way as usual.
"We're going to talk about the tactics. We haven't played in a while, so I have to see how she's playing right now. That's all."
Swiatek has made a blistering start to the new season, winning all five of her singles matches at the United Cup mixed team event in the build-up to the Australian Open starting, which starts on Sunday.
She said that while Olympic glory in Paris this year was also one of her targets she was taking things step-by-step.
"For sure I'd love to have a good result in the Olympics," she said. "But I don't see a point of looking at what's going to happen in July because we have plenty of tournaments that are important before.
"Last year I was analysing what I can do throughout the year. I got tired just thinking about it. This year I'm thinking about the end of Australian Open, then I'm going to think about my next goals."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
