Many were left baffled when pictures emerged of Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek wearing tape over her mouth during pre-tournament preparations for the Canadian Open. The World No 1 takes on Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova in a first-round tie on Wednesday in Montreal.
Last year, she went crashing out in the round of 16 to unseeded Brazilian star Beatriz Haddad Maia over three sets on centre court but is aiming to go all the way in 2023. On Monday afternoon she was out on the court, familiarising herself with the playing surface and going over some last-minute tactical adjustments before her tournament opener with Pliskova.
Photos released from her session show her swinging her racket with the tape over her mouth, which she eventually took off at the end of her session. Speculation arose online as to what the advantage of the bizarre training method was but now Swiatek has come out and confirmed that it helps build up her endurance by forcing her to breathe out of her nose.
“I’ve been training with a tape over my mouth for some time because that’s how I increase endurance. My pulse rises faster when I’m not breathing through my mouth, so it helps me,” Swiatek told Sportal.
She later added during her pre-match press conference: “It’s harder to breathe when you’re only breathing with your nose, and it’s easier for my heart rate to go up. I’m not going to explain it to you perfectly because I’m not an expert. Sometimes I don’t get the things they tell me to do, but I’m doing that for a long time now so it got pretty easy.
“But for sure you can see the difference in how everything you do on the court is getting more and more hard with that tape on your mouth. So I guess it’s the way to kind of work on my endurance by not having me run so fast and do extreme things.”
Clearly, it is paying off. Swiatek has been in excellent form as of late, recently winning the French Open in June and remains on top of the WTA rankings for the 70th week straight at the time of writing.
But there is more to come. The Pole says she feels “more confident” heading into this stage of the season than she did last year, when she racked up a 37-match win streak before a shock exit in the third round of Wimbledon at the hands of Alize Cornet.
“I remember for sure I had some technical struggles that I focused more in terms of where I wanted to improve, but I was kind of stuck with a few shots that I didn’t like. This year I don’t have that. I feel more confident,” she told assembled media.