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“It is impossible to become a champion when you don’t have a fundamental joy and your needs fulfilled and satisfied as a human being,” Abramowicz said. You go for the best, but at the end of the day you are human and you have other aspects to your life, and it doesn’t mean when you lose your match you are less worthy as a human being.”Ībramowicz said that self-confidence and close relationships built on trust were crucial to supporting attributes like motivation, stress management and communication that drive athletic success. You embrace your potential in pursuit of excellence. “Perfectionism is not so helpful, so we tried to create positive passion, determination and grit.

“We talk a lot about positive and destructive passions,” Abramowicz said in an interview. What often separates the merely great tennis player from the champion, or a one-time Grand Slam champion from a dominating repeat winner, is having the fortitude to prevail on those few key points on which a match turns. Abramowicz also takes a counterintuitive approach of prioritizing gratitude, human relationships and personal growth as a path to winning.Īt this level, every player has beautiful strokes and athleticism. Many top tennis players consult with mental coaches, but Abramowicz works with Swiatek much more frequently than usual for the sport. “My life changed,” Swiatek, 19, said recently, answering questions from the Melbourne hotel room where she had spent 19 hours each day for two weeks during the limited quarantine required of players because of the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday afternoon, two days before her opening match in Melbourne, she went to the beach. Ahead of the Australian Open, she watched and reflected on a documentary about Princess Diana to better understand the pitfalls of sudden fame. They work to deepen Swiatek’s relationships with relatives and friends, the people who can provide emotional stability - “the human anchor,” Abramowicz calls it.ĭuring practice, Swiatek sometimes wears medical instruments that measure her stress level by monitoring the activity of her heart and brain. They talk off the court for hours on end about Swiatek’s fears and her dreams. She has been a constant presence at Swiatek’s matches since 2019 and can often be seen on the court during her practices, watching closely with her arms crossed, trying to peer into Swiatek’s mind. The coach, Daria Abramowicz, 33, is a former competitive sailor who has spent much of the past decade trying to bring mental health and psychology to the fore in sports in Poland.