NEW YORK – Iga Swiatek has lifted a lot of trophies this season. The World No.1 captured her seventh title of the season at the US Open on Saturday after defeating Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6(5) in the final.
Close observers of Swiatek’s trophy ceremony routine have noticed the 21-year-old’s habit of looking inside the trophy while she’s on stage, feigning her disappointment each time she came up empty.
Not this time.
After speaking to reporters at her champion’s press conference, Swiatek was told to check the trophy again, which had already played a comical role in her interview as she strained to look around it when speaking to reporters.
To Swiatek’s delight, she finally found what she’s been looking for: her favorite dessert, tiramisu.
“Oh, my God. Are you kidding me?” Swiatek said. “Wow, who did that?”
The USTA’s Managing Director of Corporate Communications, Chris Widmaier explained, “We notice you always check your trophy. This time we wanted you to find something.”
More highlights from Swiatek’s final press conference:
On surprising herself:
“At the beginning of the season I realized that maybe I can have some good [hard-court] results on WTA events. I also made it to the semifinal of Australian Open. But I wasn’t sure if I was on the level yet to win actually a Grand Slam, especially US Open where the surface is so fast.
“It’s something that I wasn’t expecting for sure. It’s also like a confirmation for me that sky is the limit. I’m proud, also surprised little bit. Just happy that I was able to do that.”
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On meeting so many famous people during her fortnight:
“I met so many great people here, like Lindsay Vonn. Seal. I mean, actually after I met Seal, I was like, Even if I’m gonna lose right now I already won this tournament, because I got photo with him.
“Yeah, it was great. It’s something that it’s only going to happen probably in New York, because it’s New York.”
Comparing her two major wins this season at Roland Garros and US Open:
“I don’t know if it’s more than the second win on Roland Garros because I feel like back then the pressure was really on and everybody was kind of expecting me to win.
“Here I managed to go ahead my expectations lower, and also I feel like people were not expecting a lot from me on hard court. So mentally I think Roland Garros was a little bit tougher. But tennis-wise and physically here for sure it was…