A year ago, Iga Swiatek's ascended to No.1 for the first time with the help of eight titles and a century-best 37-match win streak. Now came the aftermath of expectations and pressure, as the 22-year-old tried to maintain her hold at the top.

When the dust settled on the year, Swiatek began the 2023 season at No.1 and finished at No.1. But it wasn't a drama-free wire-to-wire effort, a fact Swiatek made clear from the start.

We went through her press conferences over the season to see how her perspective and approach evolved as the months ticked by. 

January

Ahead of the start of her season at the United Cup:

"It's going to be pretty easy for my head to compare everything to last year. I feel like it's not going to be helpful, because last year, on the one hand, it wasn't perfect, but sometimes when you win tournaments, all your head can remember is those good moments and that it went so smoothly."

Ahead of the Australian Open:

"The greatest players that are consistent throughout their whole careers. ... I don't think Novak changed a lot in his game since a few years ago. I think it matters to be able to just be consistent with the best game you have. Sometimes actually, I feel like I tend to give even too much in terms of maybe the speed.

"For me, it's all about staying kind of solid and actually not changing a lot. It worked, so why would I change a lot?"

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At the Australian Open:

"I just feel like they're taking it for granted a little bit. There's no reason to do that honestly, because I know I had a streak last year, and I was consistent [but] every match is a different story, every season is different."

After losing to Elena Rybakina in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open:

"I think it's going to be motivating for me, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to play the next tournaments with something to focus on, something to work on, and I think I'm going to go forward. So I think it's OK. I'll get more time to reset."

February

After winning her first title of the season with a successful title defense in Doha: 

"I managed to lower the expectations, and I told myself before every match that the conditions are tricky, the tournament is so packed that I don't have to expect from myself that I'm gonna play magnificent tennis.

"But then I felt better and better on court. I didn't really come back to these thoughts. I just really enjoyed playing. Every game I was really focused, and that's the thing I'm most happy about, because at the beginning of the season, I felt like my mind was kind of flying away sometimes."

March

After withdrawing ahead of Miami, where she was defending champion with a rib injury:

"Of course I'm going to lose points from this tournament, but it doesn't change anything in terms of my approach and my mentality. I was also aware at the beginning of the season that it's going to be hard for me to defend all these points because these streaks, winning all these tournaments -- looking at it logically and statistically -- it's not like it's going to happen every year."

May

In Madrid, after defending her title in Stuttgart:

"Like people are saying it's tough to get to top, but staying at the top is even tougher. I haven't lived enough to know if that's like true or not, but getting to the top, I felt like it would be harder anyway. Staying at the top is hard, but I think I'm doing a good job anyway.

"It's just a matter of not thinking about that you're gonna stay here, but it's more like reaching for other stuff that can motivate you and that you can do better no matter what position you're in. I think that was the change for me in terms of how I felt at the beginning of the season with the pressure of being World No.1 and how I feel right now." 

In Rome, after making the Madrid final:

"I'm that kind of patient who is always doubting. It doesn't mean that [my team] are doing something wrong; it's more like I'm a control freak. This is something that I can't really 100% control. I was worried that if [the recovery is] too fast, what are the possibilities that something is going to go wrong? But nothing is going wrong, honestly, and everything is good.

On Media Day at Roland Garros:

Q. This is the first tournament for nearly a year where there is the chance that you might lose the World No. 1 ranking. Is that something that's on your mind at all?

Swiatek: Well, I didn't even know about that (smiling).

Q. Sorry.

IGA SWIATEK: So no. (Laughter.) No problem. It doesn't change a lot for me.

At Roland Garros:

"If I would have a quarterfinal of Wimbledon, I would be over the moon and I wouldn't believe that I'm in that place. But in Roland Garros I always felt like I can do a lot. Even on my first Grand Slam here I went to a fourth round."

June

After winning her third Roland Garros title:

"Since Stuttgart, I haven't been home. So I'm happy that I finished the whole clay-court swing so well, and that I kind of survived. I guess I'm never going to kind of doubt my strength again maybe because of that."

After making her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, on her next opponent, Elina Svitolina.

"For sure, we respect each other. We like each other. It's all pretty positive. It's good to have these kind of players on tour that are nice and they have good values, I think. I'm happy that she's back after becoming a mother. I don't know how tough it is, but I'm sure it's really tough."

August 

After losing to Coco Gauff for the first time in seven matches, in the Cincinnati semifinals:

"From my perspective, I would say my tank of fuel is pretty empty. Honestly, I'm not even going to kind of regret a lot because I'm happy that I'm going to have days off now.

"Coco, for sure, she played great tennis. I got to check, but I think her first serve was better than most of the matches we played against each other, faster. She played more in, even though she's risking with that speed."

September

At the US Open:

"I would say that the beginning of this season was pretty tough for me. I learned the most because I felt like everybody started to analyze my game, to learn a little bit more. They focused on winning against me. So it wasn't easy. I felt that.

"On the other hand, if you want to be the best player in the world, you have to be ready for that. I learned that I should just focus on myself, not really think about rankings and points, just focus on developing as a player because there are many things I want to change or improve."

After losing to Jelena Ostapenko in the US Open Round of 16 to relinquish the No.1 ranking to Sabalenka:

"[Being No.1] meant a lot, obviously. It was great. On the other hand this last part, it was pretty exhausting. I still need to do all this stuff that my team and all these great players like Roger or Novak or Rafa are talking about: you just have to focus on the tournaments, not the rankings.

"Usually I'm not looking at numbers, but overall I love them. I would love to extend this record a little bit longer. This is something that when I was younger, I actually kind of wanted to break some record or have something. I already did that 'cause I already won a Slam as the first Polish player. Obviously [having the third-longest first-time streak at No.1] is great.

"But for sure when it happens, when you lose it, there are some sad emotions. Yeah, as I said at the beginning, all these great players know it's going to come back if you're going to work hard, focus on the right things, just develop as a player.

"For sure besides this match, which was pretty weird, I feel like I am progressing as a player. I have more skills. The hardest part is already done for me, but this season was really tough and intense. It's not easy to cope with all of this stuff."

October

Ahead of the China Open:

"I think it's a little bit easier to come back to the mindset of chasing somebody because that's what we've been doing our whole lives. There's only one person who's at No.1. I think this was harder to get used to last season.

"But honestly, it doesn't really matter for me because after US Open, I knew I'm going to drop to second position. I stopped thinking about rankings at all 'cause I felt like there's some baggage off my shoulders. I could focus more on just working and kind of getting back to the more peaceful and normal rhythm of practicing, I would say."

After winning her first WTA 1000 of the season at the China Open:

"I feel like this tournament will give me confidence for the rest of my career that there's always ability, a chance to overcome and work on what you do or what you feel. You can always get better. Sometimes it's pretty easy, but we tend to make it more complicated in our heads.

"I'm really happy that I just focused on hard work. It paid off -- maybe not instantly, but I'm happy that after US Open I got back to basics and just worked really hard tennis-wise. I'll just continue to do that."

November

Ahead of the WTA Finals Cancun:

"It's just kind of ridiculous because people got used to me winning. It's not like it's going to happen all the time. So I think this season was more normal, I would say, like most of the seasons we play, for even the top players. I think the main thing that I want to avoid is forgetting that this was also a good season and I still won some great tournaments. I won a Grand Slam.

"Comparing everything to 2022, I can kind of tell you pretty confidently that I may not have a season like that again, but I'm going to do my best. For sure the expectations from the outside, it was the thing that really sometimes stopped me this season. I'm going to work on not letting it stop me this time."

After going undefeated at the WTA Finals to retake the No.1 ranking:

"I learned my lesson and this time I didn't want [the No.1 ranking] to have an impact on me. It did a little bit -- it's hard not to think about stuff like that -- but actually, when I went on court, I knew that I had to focus on different things."

On finishing as World No.1 for the second consecutive season: 

"Coming back to World No.1, it's a dream come true, for sure. I would say I wasn't expecting that right now, this season. I was hoping that maybe next year is gonna be my year, but it seems like just working hard and focusing on the right things at the end worked. So I'm really happy."