"She’s going to win a Grand Slam, I feel she was raised to do that" - Iga Swiatek on Coco Gauff
Iga Swiatek, who has taken the tennis world by storm by dominating the women's game like few have in the recent past, has predicted that Coco Gauff will one day win a Grand Slam title.
Gauff made her maiden Grand Slam final appearance at the 2020 French Open, where Swiatek beat her in straight sets without breaking into a sweat. The American, who reached the title clash without dropping a set, simply failed to get the measure of her in-form Polish opponent.
In an interview with Arab News, Swiatek opined that Gauff was "doing everything quicker than most of the players" and asserted that she would win a Grand Slam because "she was raised to do that."
“I feel like she’s doing everything quicker than most of the players and I’m pretty sure that she’s going to get here someday and win a Grand Slam, because I feel she was raised to do that. I hope she’s going to keep it going," Iga Swiatek said.
When the World No. 1 was asked whether she was also raised the way Gauff was, she explained that although she was guided by her dad, she never had "10 people around" telling her what to do and how to deal with things.
“I don’t think so. That’s a hard one. I don’t think so because my journey from the beginning is what my dad thought was the best; and he made really good choices and really bad choices sometimes, but it wasn’t like I had 10 people around me telling us how to deal with everything and what to do," Swiatek explained.
Iga Świątek defeats Coco Gauff in the French Open final to win her second Grand Slam title at 21 years old 🏆
She's unbeaten in her last 35 matches https://t.co/wxxjYrDY0n
"We had to choose our own path, because we didn’t have any system that could help us" - Iga Swiatek on the tennis scene in Poland
Iga Swiatek was candid in admitting that there was no system in place that helped her develop her game in Poland. She added that she got lucky because her dad made some good decisions and she had good coaches right from the outset.
“We had to choose our own path and for sure we got really lucky that he made some good decisions and I had good coaches in the beginning, because honestly we didn’t have any system that could help us," Swiatek said.
Iga Swiatek celebrated with Polish compatriot Robert Lewandowski after beating Coco Gauff at the French Open 🎾 https://t.co/IgGpu7oPgC
The Pole, who has occupied the coveted top spot in the WTA rankings ever since her predecessor Ashleigh Barty retired, stated that she never expected to reach the top as she was coming from a country where not many have succeeded in the sport.
“But basically, it was pretty hard for me to think that I’m going to be World No. 1 because just thinking logically, when you take my country; how many people have succeeded [in tennis]? It was only Agnieszka [Radwanska] basically. So, the probability of me actually becoming a tennis superstar was pretty small," Swiatek said.