"When I 1st watched, my favorite character was Phoebe, then Monica" - Iga Swiatek reveals she used to watch 'Friends' with US Open opponent Kaja Juvan
Iga Swiatek has revealed that she enjoyed watching the immensely popular sitcom Friends with Kaja Juvan by her side.
Swiatek thrashed her best friend Juvan 6-0, 6-1 in the third round of the US Open on Friday, September 1, to set up a pre-quarters clash with Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian overcame Bernarda Pera in three sets on Court 17.
Reflecting on her performance, Swiatek said that she was "more focused than usual" since she was playing against her best friend.
"I really just wanted to focus on myself and I knew that it's going to be a little bit harder for me to focus because she's my best friend, I was actually more focused than usual," the World No. 1 said during the post-match press conference.
The 22-year-old was then put under the spotlight by being asked to pick a favorite episode from Friends, a TV show based on the relationship of six companions from New York City.
"Oh, my God, favorite episode. No, I don't have the exact one. I don't even have one favorite character, because it's impossible to choose," she replied.
Iga Swiatek further disclosed that she liked the character Phoebe, played by Lisa Kudrow, to begin with, but later developed a liking for Monica, played by Courteney Cox.
"When I first watched, my favorite character was Phoebe, then it was Monica. I'm not sure even now. Yeah, I love the show. And Kaja loves it as well actually. We used to watch it together," she added.
"It's not easy against her" - Iga Swiatek ahead of matchup against Jelena Ostapenko at US Open
Looking ahead to her fourth-round match against Jelena Ostapenko, Iga Swiatek spoke about her confidence levels and said she has learned a lot over the past two years about how to play against big hitters.
"In terms of the confidence, I always felt like I still need to kind of work on some technical and tennis skills to build up my confidence," she said. "You know, I learned a lot during these past two years how to play on faster hard courts and how to play against heavy hitters."
The 22-year-old then described Ostapenko's hit-and-miss style, which makes her a dangerous opponent.
"With Jelena, it's a little bit like one day she can play a perfect match and just put everything in even though she's really risking, and the other day can be different," she said. "It's not easy against her. We played a really tight match two years ago in Dubai. For sure I'm getting close."
Interestingly, Jelena Ostapenko leads Iga Swiatek 3-0 in their head-to-head. She came through a third-set tiebreak in their last meeting at the 2022 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.