hired last year to replace the Polish former tennis player Tomasz Wiktorowski, Swiatek surrounds herself with a Polish team, including Maciej Ryszczuk, her fitness coach, and Daria Abramowicz, a psychologist and her closest adviser.
Swiatek, who is single, lives in her home country, a decision that is unusual by the standards of elite tennis, where a single match can win players large sums of money. Many highly ranked players reside in Monaco — where they pay no personal taxes on income, capital gains or investments — including Djokovic, Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Russia's Daniil Medvedev. Some others live in Switzerland or Dubai.
In contrast, Swiatek lives in Raszyn, a village 12km southwest from the centre Warsaw with a population of 7,000. “It's always good to be home, especially since I'm there so rarely,” Swiatek posted on social media after winning the 2023 French Open. In Raszyn, a mural of the player has been painted on the Cyprian Godebski primary school.
In her downtime, Swiatek said she reads and plays with Lego. On Wednesday she said she was reading a novel by the Italian author Elena Ferrante, who is most famous for writing the Neapolitan Novels tetralogy. She signed a sponsorship deal with Lego Polska last year and said the plastic bricks help her to “be in
the moment” before a match.
She is also an enthusiastic participant in the time-honoured tradition of pinching Wimbledon's £40 towels. “We love our towels,” she said bashfully, after being confronted on national television for lifting half a dozen. “Sorry guys, sorry Wimbledon.”
Last Saturday, Swiatek caused a stir by posting a picture on social media of her dinner: a bowl of cooked pasta with yoghurt and chopped up strawberries. “Its a Polish thing,” she shrugged, spawning countless recipes and TikTok videos of fans trying to recreate the dish.
Her eagerness to wave the flag for Polish culture has made Swiatek a celebrity in her home country, earning her the Polish sports personality of the year award in 2022 and 2023.
She has also earned admiration from Ukraine, after she spoke out against the Russian invasion in February 2022. At a time when her country took in about 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees and was the first to begin supplying Ukraine with heavy weaponry on a large scale, Swiatek spoke out against allowing Russian players to compete in international tournaments
Word pairs. New game 9th November
When is Amol Rajan leaving the Today programme please?
