WATCH: Iga Swiatek takes Steffi Graf’s inspiration after being proposed to during the San Diego Open’s trophy ceremony
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Iga Swiatek and Steffi Graf
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won her 8th title of the season as she defeated Donna Vekic in the WTA-500 San Diego Open. Swiatek won the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to win the 3rd WTA-500 title of her career. Swiatek was the favourite but had to battle hard this week as she won in straight sets only once in San Diego.
During the trophy ceremony, when Swiatek was giving her winner’s speech, a Polish fan proposed to the 21-year-old asking the question in Polish. Surprised by the question, Swiatek gave a cheeky reply and said, “I’m not going to repeat what Steffi Graf said, but you probably know what she said.”
Iga Swiatek took the help of Steffi Graf’s answer from her own proposal in Wimbledon
Graf started making a name for herself in the late 80s and come the 90s, she walked in as the favourite at every event. With unparalleled success, Graf was one of the most popular players of the decade and her fan base kept on growing with every passing tournament.
Graf’s fandom was on display at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships semi-finals. Graf was playing against Kimiko Date when a fan asked her, “Will you marry me?” Graf chuckled and waited for a few seconds as the crowd also went silent after their laughs. Graf then replied, “How much money do you have?” to get a louder laugh from the fans.
Graf’s answer is so iconic that Swiatek, who wasn’t even born back in 1996, used it to tackle a similar situation. While Swiatek did not use the same answer, hinting towards Graf’s iconic moment was enough for tennis fans to know what the 3-time Grand Slam champion wanted to say.
With the title in San Diego, Swiatek became the fifth player since 2000 to win eight or more titles joining the likes of Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams. Williams was the last player to achieve the feat back in 2013 and it’s taken 9 years for a player on the Tour to claim at least 8 titles.
Also Read: “Lonely, Repetitive, Unique,” Nick Kyrgios goes out of his way to describe tennis as ‘lonely’
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)