‘Humble’ Iga Swiatek shares her thoughts on fans comparing her to the legendary Steffi Graf

Swiatek points out similarities between the German legend and herself.

‘Humble’ Iga Swiatek shares her thoughts on fans comparing her to the legendary Steffi Graf

Iga Swiatek responds to comparisons with Steffi Graf (Via Imago)

Iga Swiatek has been the torchbearer for women’s tennis since Ashleigh Barty‘s retirement in early 2022. Despite being the best player on tour for a good part of the last two years, Swiatek is seldom seen engaging with the media and garnering attention, preferring her own company and reading books. 

She has been dominating opponents on clay courts and hard courts alike and earned herself comparisons to an all-time legend, Steffi Graf. Graf, too, was known to show no mercy on court, grabbing victories as quickly as they could come. Naturally, Swiatek has been compared to her and her game style. In her interview after the French Open quarter-final on Tuesday, she was asked how she felt about these comparisons. 

YouTube video
She's a great champion, and it's just nice that anybody would compare me to her (smiling), 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.
Iga Swiatek said to Roland Garros Press

Swiatek, humble as ever, stated that it’s nice anyone would compare her to someone of Graf’s stature. However, she mentioned that she has also seen some similarities between herself and the German legend, as they are both introverts who are always in their zone.

FS Video
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.--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.
Iga Swiatek added

The World No.1 also mentioned that it is not possible to compare players from different periods of time as the game is constantly receiving. She thinks Graf would have had better slices and volleys than her, but nothing can be said for certain as the game was very different when Graf was in her prime years.

Iga Swiatek’s merciless onslaught continues, setting the stage for a three-peat

Iga Swiatek faced her biggest challenge in Naomi Osaka in the second round of the French Open, a tournament she has had no problem winning three times already. She managed to overcome that and take a gritty win, which required a match point save. 

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (Image via Imago)

Since then, she has been on a rampage, not giving her opponents the slightest chance to break through and take a lead. She took out Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2 in the third round. Then, in the next round, she lost just ten points en route to her forty-minute triumph over Ana Potapova. This is the least number of points lost in a WTA match since Barty defeated Danka Kovinic in the 2021 Australian Open.

She demonstrated this dominance again in the quarterfinals, taking out an experienced Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2.

This set the bar higher as Swiatek fell just short of Serena Williams’ record for the least number of games lost against a top-5 seed at Roland Garros. Now, she takes on Coco Gauff in the semi-final, an opponent she enjoys playing and has beaten ten out of 11 times previously.

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