Iga Swiatek is slowly starting to look very much like legendary Rafael Nadal on clay, but she's not in favour of comparing herself to him.
The young Pole grew up idolizing Nadal, and it's not something she hides. She was in attendance for his most recent match at Roland Garros against Alexander Zverev and was spotted being quite emotional during the match.
She also admitted to crying after seeing his Madrid Open ceremony, so she's very much in tune with the Spaniard. As such, she knows his game and achievements well and completely rejects comparisons between herself and the Spaniard on clay because she considers him a lot better on the surface than she is.
Her dominance is well established, and it's slowly starting to look very much like what Nadal has been capable of doing on the surface.
"We'll see in 14 years if the journey is similar. I mean, that's obviously really nice for me. I would never expect anybody to compare me to Rafa because for me he's above everybody, and he's a total legend."
Despite being uncomfortable with the comparisons with Nadal, Swiatek is still proud of everything she achieved at Roland Garros because the comparison didn't come out of thin air.
They are being made precisely because she's been dominant at the event, and there hasn't been anyone as good as she is in the French capital since Nadal.
"Yeah, as I said, we'll see in couple of years, but I'm proud of myself that I'm playing consistently here and that I'm mentioned in the same sentence as Rafa. That's cool."
One step towards leaving a lasting legacy like Nadal would be to win a third consecutive Roland Garros on Saturday. That hasn't been done that many times, and it would take her total tally in Paris to 4, which is more than Serena Williams (3), the same as Justine Henin (4), and only two shy of Steffi Graf (6).
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