Iga Swiatek reaches first US Open final, will face fifth seed Ons Jabeur;
Tennis ace: “It’s one of the first times in my career I’ve been involved in anything like this.”
By Chris Williams
On Friday, it will be a short walk from Belmont Park to the final in Flushing Meadows Park, New York, where it will see Iga Swiatek play his first Grand Slam final since he won the US Open in September.
So it was no surprise when, on Tuesday, Swiatek, a 6’8″ American junior, tweeted an image from the opening round of Wimbledon, which began Monday.
“Wimbledon, I’m already excited, next week is going to be crazy. Can’t wait!!” he tweeted.
Swiatek won the third event of the US junior circuit last year, Wimbledon junior boys’ doubles with Ben Maughan, defeating Ryan Harrison and Max Hopp 7-5, 6-3.
In June, when he won a tournament in Italy, Swiatek told ESPN that he would one day become a professional tennis player.
“It’s one of the first times in my career I’ve been involved in anything like this. I have a lot to learn and it’s a great place to do it,” he said.
“I think that’s a great experience to have right now as I’m getting into this. For sure, there’s going to be a lot I can improve on over the years and I can work hard at improving with that. But I will take that experience and learn from it and hopefully use that knowledge and build myself into something that I can be proud of.”
So there was little surprise when he turned pro in 2011.
Swiatek has gone on to play most of this year at the main event in New York, where he lost in the first round to No. 16 seed James Duckworth on Tuesday.
Duckworth defeated Sam Querrey in five sets on Saturday.
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