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Iga Swiatek discussed the strained relationship between Russian/Belarusian and Ukrainian tennis players after her second-round win at the 2022 US Open.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek breezed past 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday to advance to the third round of the US Open. Swiatek smoothly handled her maiden match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, breaking Stephens' serve four times in her WTA Tour-leading 50th win of the season.
The Pole will now lock horns with another American, Lauren Davis, in the third round to take a step ahead towards lifting her maiden US Open title.
The Pole claimed in a post-match press conference that it was almost too late for the ATP and WTA tours to fix the difficulties between Russian/Belarusian and Ukrainian tennis players because prime time to find a resolution had passed.
"Well, basically I think it's already too late. I mean, it's never too late, you know. But I think the best time for ATP or WTA to do anything was when the war started, and where the tension was pretty big, I mean, in the locker rooms, you know. I think right now it's already pretty messed up," Iga Swiatek said.
The World No. 1 stated that the invasion was not the fault of the tennis players and that it would have been much easier if there had been any intervention from the tours at the beginning of the war.
"Even though there are countries who are invading other countries, we are tennis players, Swiatek said, adding, "It's sad but it's not our fault that it's happening, you know. Yeah, I think it would be much, much easier at the beginning to do that. Right now, yeah, right now it's kind of too late, I think, to fix that."
"I'm going to try to be focused on myself and be proactive"- Iga Swiatek on her upcoming match
Reflecting on her upcoming third-round match against Lauren Davis, Iga Swiatek said that she will attempt to focus on herself and that the game will be "intense."
"For sure I know that I'm going to try to be focused on myself and be proactive and try to play the game that is going to be intense. Yeah, tactically we are going to prepare, but it's going to be tomorrow. Right now I know just from my side what I'm going to do, yeah," Swiatek said.
