Poland’s Swiatek rose to the top of the world rankings last year following the retirement of Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, going on to win the French Open and US Open titles as she dominated the WTA Tour.
She reached the Melbourne semi-finals last year and, after a remarkable 2022, returned aiming to be the first women since Serena Williams in 2015 to hold three of the four major titles.
“I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard,” she said.
“So I’m going to try to chill out a little bit more.”
Rybakina’s success has been more sporadic. Between claiming the most prestigious title in tennis and the start of this year’s Australian Open, she won just 14 of her 24 matches and has spoken out about the lack of recognition she feels she has been given.
She has also struggled with tough draws, with her world ranking lower than expected after receiving no points for her Wimbledon victory.
But she made another impressive statement at Melbourne Park, reaching the last eight for the first time with a dominant win over Swiatek.
The pair exchanged breaks early in the opening set before a double fault from Swiatek at 3-3 gave Rybakina another chance, which she took with a whopping cross-court backhand winner.
A confident hold to love sealed the one-set advantage, but Swiatek improved at the start of the second set and moved into a 3-0 lead.
Rybakina quickly fought back and levelled for 3-3 as Swiatek struggled to deal with her hefty serve.
She dropped just six points on her first serve in the match and registered an impressive held to love to secure victory after breaking for 5-4.
Rybakina says she is no longer “bothered” about not having earned ranking points at Wimbledon but improving her world status is a source of motivation in Melbourne.
“For sure it’s a motivation, but as I said before, every tournament I come I want to win and no matter points, no points,” she said.
“I love to compete, no matter where I play. For now I would say that I don’t really look at these things.”