Iga Swiatek has never hidden her enormous admiration for Rafa Nadal. The world number two fulfilled the dream of exchanging a few words for the first time with the Spanish tennis player in 2020 and since then many have compared the Pole’s grit on the court with Rafa’s drive.
So much so that before her match against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, whom she beat 6-3, 6-1, even the US Open’s social media compared Swiatek to Nadal, whom they dubbed ‘Rafa’s daughter’ for the way she concentrated before taking to the court.
In fact, after the victory, in the press conference, the Polish tennis player was asked about the incident in which a millionaire took away a child’s cap that had been given to him by Machrzak and in addition to stating that she understood this fanaticism of the little ones left a curious statement: “I always try to give directly what I am asked to the person I want to keep it, I try to be fair, I do not choose at random. When I give something to a child and an adult takes it, I reprimand them. I don’t think it’s strange that younger people want our stuff. As a child I would have wanted to have a sweaty towel from Nadal”.
Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion, awaits in the quarter-finals against American Amanda Anisimova, whom she defeated in the Wimbledon final with a historic 6-0, 6-0 victory.
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