Iga Swiatek was in high spirits during her Canadian Open press conference joking about a funny coincidence.
After taking care of business back on home soil in Warsaw, Swiatek made her way to North America for the Canadian Open. After winning a couple of trophies on North American soil last year, the Polish player is yet to win one this year. There is hope that she can get it done, and she might just get a boost from the main court.
The main court of the tennis complex in Montreal is called Stade IGA after a major supermarket in the Canadian province of Quebec. The top-seeded Swiatek has a connection to Iga because it's her first name. Everybody had a good laugh about it during her press conference as she played along with the jokes.
Well, having the stadium named after me, huge privilege. Let's pretend that's the story. No, but it's just a nice coincidence, so yeah, it's fun. I feel more happy when I see that its 'Iga Stadium' so it's nice. They should do this more often.
Swiatek had some fun with it when she found out, going to the stadium and posing for a picture where the IGA on it is clearly visible. Last year's event was held in Toronto, so we didn't have this moment. Also, the stadium wasn't always called IGA.
There were several names in the past such as Uniprix Stadium and Du Maurier Stadium as the change happened in 2018. Either way, Swiatek will be on the short list of possible winners because of her recent level shown in Warsaw and her desire to do well.
Being the defending champion of the US Open will certainly add some pressure for her to do well, pressure she could ease with some good prep events. This is the first one.