Iga Swiatek acknowledged that she is introverted and that Ons Jabeur being an extrovert is a big reason why they have a good relationship. Jabeur, 21, defeated 28-year-old Jabeur in this past US Open final for her third Grand Slam title.
Swiatek has defeated Jabeur twice in finals this year – the US Open and Rome – but they have a very good relationship. After beating Jabeur, Swiatek only had words of praise for her Tunisian rival. On the other side, Jabeur joked she wanted Swiatek to apologize by gifting her a Rolex.
Swiatek on her relationship with Jabeur
“Yes, for sure. Ons is a great person,” Swiatek told Vogue. “Also, I’m more of an introvert, so it’s really thanks to her that we have a good relationship—she’s very open-minded, and she’s always smiling and always has jokes to throw around.
Getting to know her has been really cool, and she’s a great player with so much determination and ambition. It’s nice that we can have that mutual respect. I feel like it’s important in women’s tennis.
There’s no tension between us in the locker rooms on tour; the girls are all really nice and we are all supporting each other. Even though we’re always fighting and wanting to win on court, it’s a great environment.” New York is one of the loudest places to play tennis and that’s definitely not a favorable situation for an introvert.
But Swiatek was able to keep her focus throughout the tournament and win seven matches. “New York is a city I’m still trying to get used to. On the one hand, it’s really loud, and there’s a lot going on, so you can easily lose your focus. During the tournament, for sure, I wanted to try and be as calm about it as possible,” Swiatek said.