Iga Swiatek says she has grown accustomed to the high pressure of expectations she shoulders each clay-court season and that she is “grateful” for the public’s “high hopes” for her. The world number two is the most successful clay-court player of her generation and has won the French Open four times. By her stratospheric standards, Swiatek is having a sub-par season but she has the chance to turn her year around at the Madrid Open, where she is defending her title this fortnight. “It’s crazy, but people are not aware when they think about other people that we’re also human. The expectations for sure are high, but they’re high every year for me since 2022,” Swiatek said on Wednesday at the Caja Magica. “I’m just trying to keep my job and not really focus on what people say. Honestly, they have no idea what’s going on in any of our lives, so if they think some things, they can just think, but it’s not necessarily the truth. “But for sure I’m grateful that they have high hopes.” The 23-year-old Pole kicked off her clay season with a quarter-final appearance in Stuttgart last week, where she lost to eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko for the sixth time in six meetings with the Latvian. While she is feeling good in practice, Swiatek is still waiting for confirmation she can hit her peak level on her preferred surface. “It’s nice to have these first days and first week of just grinding and practising,” she added. “I love that, especially on clay, because tennis for me it’s the most logical there, and also you can be more creative in terms of the tactics and everything.” The first test for the second seed in Madrid comes in the form of Filipina teenager Alexandra Eala, who shocked Swiatek en route to a historic semi-final run at the Miami Open last month. “I feel like I know this place pretty well, so I’m going to use the experience, but the experience doesn’t play, so I got to approach this match as any other match, doesn’t really matter what happened in Miami,” said Swiatek of her upcoming clash.