Iga Swiatek has been a very outspoken supporter of Ukraine as the war continues to rage in the country, and she made a brief mention of it during her Qatar Open victory speech.
Swiatek enjoys playing in Doha quite a bit, as the Polish player won the event once more. She started her 37-match winning streak at the event in Doha last year, with one of those 37 matches being the win over Anett Kontaveit in the final, 6-2, 6-0.
Fast forward to now, one year later and Swiatek once again won the Qatar Open, only this time she bested Jessica Pegula in the final 6-3, 6-0. There is just something that works really well for her in the Qatari capital.
During her speech, though, Swiatek elected to shine a light on the Ukrainian issue as the war continues to rage in the country. It’s been going on for a long time and Swiatek has been a vocal supporter of the country throughout it.
Her support stems from her native country of Poland sharing a border with Ukraine and seeing so much suffering happening so close to her home impacted her deeply. She spoke about Ukraine last year in Doha, and she mentioned that fact during this year’s speech as well.
"When I sat there I had a throwback to last year – that was the first tournament that I had a chance to make a speech when the war started in Ukraine. I feel like we have pretty short memories."
"We should all support Ukrainians with everything they are coping with every day. It’s disappointing this situation is not changing, but hopefully they will stay strong."
Swiatek’s comments garnered applause from the crowd, which was nice to see as issues like these really matter, and Swiatek keeps highlighting them, which is very admirable from the World No. 1.