'She deserves the best': Swiatek weighs in on Swift, Serena and Sharapova
Iga Swiatek may have set a record Tuesday at the US Open with her 65th consecutive first-round victory in the Open Era, but afterward her thoughts were elsewhere as she spoke to reporters.
As she was walking off court, Taylor Swift announced her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on Instagram.
"Maybe that's not a coincidence," said Swiatek, a renowned Swiftie. "Come on. I was ready."
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Like all Swift fans, Swiatek has lived through the ups and downs of the singer's various relationships for over a decade. Since 2014, Swift's songs have helped her feel less alone -- as well as improving her English -- and now, she's pleased to see her favorite singer thriving.
"I'm just happy for her, because she deserves the best," Swiatek said. "Obviously she had a lot of boyfriends, so we know all about that. Hopefully this one will, you know, stick forever. Travis seems like a great guy. She seems super happy, so I'm happy for her. I wish them all the best."
In truth, Swiatek is more eager for clues about Swift's upcoming 12th album, "The Life Of A Showgirl" She hasn't pre-ordered any of the various vinyl versions yet -- she intends to buy it properly when it's released in October, in a physical record shop -- but she's been wading through Swift's recent content in the hope of finding out more information.
"It was a long interview," Swiatek said of Swift's appearance on Kelce's New Heights podcast. "I've got to say I was waiting mostly to hear about the album, because besides the sourdough, when she was describing The Eras Tour and everything, I knew most of the stuff already."
Swiatek was amused by Swift's sourdough obsession -- she listened with a friend in Cincinnati who was equally passionate about the bread -- but it's the music that's on her mind. Specifically, can Swift be trusted when she insists the album will only contain 12 songs?
"I was thinking about all that stuff that she said -- the Easter eggs, you know," Swiatek said, referring to Swift's habit of dropping clues for her fans. "For example, when she was, like, 'Oh, this is going to be an album of 12 songs, that's it, no more,' I was, like, 'Girl...'
"People said that there might be like a 13th song, and it was a '90s trend to do that -- to do a track at the end."
Swiatek was also admiring of Swift's ability to cross over to the sporting world via Kelce, though she has little time for any detractors.
"I think she's just great that she can fit everywhere," she said. "There has been some hate as well because she was on football matches and she got booed and everything. I don't get it, because she just makes our world better."
Another two iconic figures who have blended the worlds of sport and pop culture have also been on everyone's lips this week: Maria Sharapova, the most recent induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and Serena Williams -- who made a surprise appearance in Newport to introduce her great rival. Swiatek was as stunned as everyone else.
"It's a shame obviously that it didn't happen before when they were on tour together," she said. "I just thought that their relationship was so tense that I'm just shocked that they managed to work through it, you know. I guess if you have good intentions, you can work through everything, you know -- so for sure I'm happy to see that. I think having that appreciation from your biggest rival, I think it must be a great feeling. So Maria also deserves that, and Serena, she's great. So they're both great."
It wasn't just a nice moment for Swiatek, but also an example for her own generation of players.
"I feel like we all should be kind of united and going towards one goal as players, even though we're competing against each other," she said. "That's one of the examples of that."