Swiatek on Graf: “It’s nice that anyone would compare me to her”
Iga Swiatek had the chance to talk about one of the all-time superstars of tennis
Iga Swiatek v Marketa Vondrousova (Action Plus/Panoramic)
Iga Swiatek paid tribute to one of tennis’s all-time greats in her press conference after reaching another Roland-Garros semi-final – Germany’s Steffi Graf, who prefers to be known now by her full name Stefanie.
After a 6-0, 6-2 trouncing of Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, a journalist likened some of Swiatek’s dominant scorelines to those of Graf at her prime, and wondered whether the current world No 1 had ever watched any of her predecessor’s matches on video.
Swiatek most certainly has.
“She’s a great champion, and, well, it’s just nice that anybody would compare me to her,” Swiatek smiled, “because I feel like — I don’t know her, but I feel like maybe she was kind of a similar person to me because she also likes to keep her privacy, and now you can see that she’s just enjoying life and she knows that she worked hard to have a little bit of peace, you know, right now.
“I also heard from some people on tour that she was also kind of like an introvert, really in the zone and just focusing on tennis and what she wants to do. That’s what I heard tennis-wise. I mean, it’s kind of hard to compare because these were totally different times. Probably I don’t have such a good slice as her and
volleys, but it’s nice that anybody would compare me to her, because she’s great.”
People in this post
More tennis news
October 10, 1971: The day Stan Smith and the United States won the last ever Davis Cup to use the “Challenge Round”
Hurkacz ends eight-match losing run against Djokovic to storm into Shanghai third round
October 9, 2019: The day Spanish tennis legend Andres Gimeno passed away
October 8, 1989: The day Jim Courier won his first title, beating Stefan Edberg in the final
Zverev set to finish year-end No. 1 as injured Sinner is ruled out for the season
