World No. 1 Iga Swiatek could also be dominant on the tennis courtroom, however she hasn’t discovered that very same success on the slopes.
Whereas speaking about her friendships with Olympic gold medalist skiers Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn, the 22-year-old Pole mirrored on a traumatic time when she nearly died snowboarding.
“Final time I skied was after I was seven and I had accident that I may have died so I actually acquired scared,” Swiatek mentioned after her first spherical U.S. Open win on Monday. “I do not get scared that simply however this for positive stopped me.”
Swiatek has been open about attempting to be as versatile of an individual as potential — choosing up expertise past the tennis courtroom. She has mentioned her ardour for music and guitar taking part in, as effectively.
“They [Shiffrin and Vonn] are enormous inspirations for me,” she mentioned. “I simply really feel like our sports activities are form of related… We form of have related experiences, particularly I really feel that after I hear all of the interviews of Mikaela, I really feel like we’re form of the identical typically.”
Swiatek and Shiffrin lately did an Instagram reside collectively. They chatted about completely different subjects, together with their admiration for each other, being on the high of their sports activities, and their respective charity work. The dialog concluded with the 2 agreeing to get on the tennis courtroom collectively.
“It is simply good to have someone you possibly can look as much as, and that shares the identical experiences that you may be taught from,” Swiatek mentioned. “I am joyful that also they are so open to speak about the whole lot.”
Swiatek dispatched Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-0, 6-1 in lower than an hour in her opening match in New York.
Swiatek, who has held the world No. 1 rating since April 2022, will face Australia’s Daria Gavrilova within the second spherical of the U.S. Open.
