“I was pretty overwhelmed,” Iga Swiatek reveals her shyness in talking to Serena Williams during practice at Wimbledon
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Iga Swiatek and Serena Williams
23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams was at the helm of women’s tennis for almost two decades and ruled the court like no other female player before. She changed the dynamics and approach to how women’s tennis is played and hence is also regarded as one of the greatest players to have stepped on the court.
But Serena is nearing the end of her career and hasn’t been as dominant in the last couple of years. With Serena’s decline, there has been rise of many new players on the WTA tour, the pioneer of whom is Iga Swiatek. The Pole is the current World No.1 on the WTA tour and has shown consistency off late which was unseen in women’s tennis for a long time.
She is currently on a 36-match winning streak and has won 6 consecutive titles. Despite all this, Swiatek is one of the shyest people on the tour. A very funny incident took place during practice on center court. Swiatek was wrapping her practice session when Serena entered the court but shockingly, Swiatek didn’t interact with Serena as she was too overwhelmed and shy by her presence.
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‘I felt like I am still new on the WTA, I didn’t know how to react properly’: Iga Swiatek
In the pre-tournament press conference at Wimbledon, Swiatek talked about the incident and revealed that she was pretty overwhelmed. She still feels very new on the WTA tour and hence doesn’t know how to react in such situations. She added that there were many people around Serena and she didn’t know most of them so it was weird. She also said that seeing Serena around is great because of her legendary status.
“When I saw her yesterday I was pretty overwhelmed,” Swiatek said. “I felt like I am still new on the WTA, I didn’t know how to react properly. I wanted to meet her but I saw that she had so many people around her and I don’t know her team. It was pretty weird. So I came back to myself a few years earlier when I was too shy to say hi to anybody for a second. But I feel that just seeing her around is great because she is such a legend.”
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)