No. 4: “Well, when I wake up and look in the mirror, I see a mess basically!”
To paraphrase lyrics from an old Jennifer Lopez song: She’s real, what you get is what you see…
At just 20 years old, Iga Swiatek was in the midst of a hard-court surge that culminated with a rare Sunshine Double, becoming only the fourth woman to win the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open in the same season. In the wake of Ashleigh Barty’s shock retirement, the women’s game had already found its new champion—even if she didn’t feel any different.
“I’m still the same person, the same Iga,” she insisted after thumping Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final. “I want to stay that way. I mean, I had my biggest idols basically stayed the same way and they are the same people. I don’t want the success to change me like in a negative way.
“Obviously, it’s going to give me a lot of confidence and like satisfaction. But in terms of me as a person, I’m still going to be the same, you know.”
Asked how that confidence translated into an early morning glow-up, Swiatek joked, “Well, when I wake up and look in the mirror, I see a mess basically!”