Swiatek on Graf: “It’s nice that anyone would compare me to her”

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.

Read also

June 4, 1988: The day Graf double-bagelled Zvereva in the Roland-Garros final

Tennis Majors

“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.”

You might also like this

Roland-Garros: Swiatek sweeps aside Vondrousova to advance to last four

tennis majors

“Times change” – Swiatek reverses fortunes of junior days against Anastasia Potapova

tennis majors