World No. 1 Iga Swiatek revealed she didn’t want to bother Novak Djokovic too much as the Serb just congratulated her on her recent results. In Rome, Djokovic and Swiatek were spotted exchanging pleasant words and Swiatek revealed it was nothing too much but just a few nice words.
Swiatek is a big Rafael Nadal fan and admirer but she has nothing but great respect for Djokovic. “Novak, honestly, just congratulated me. It was right after practice so I didn’t want to bother him,” Swiatek said, per Lorenzo Ercoli.
#Swiatek about the little chat with #Djokovic: “Novak, honestly, just congratulated me. It was right after practice so I didn’t want to bother him”#IBI22 pic.twitter.com/YUtO43RbNE — Lorenzo Ercoli (@Ladal17) May 11, 2022
Swiatek kicked off her Rome campaign in style
Swiatek had a first round bye in Rome as the top-seeded player.
On Wednesday, Switek made a strong start to her Rome campaign as she demolished Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 6-0. “I’m pretty proud I could get into the rhythm today, just take some lessons during the match and improve my game, game by game,” Swiatek said after her opening win in Rome, per the WTA Tour website.
“That was pretty solid match for me. I think she’s playing really solid tennis. I could feel that today on my racquet, that she could really give back some strong hits.” Swiatek made a positive start to the match, breaking Ruse in the opening game of the match.
Swiatek had a chance to go up by a double break in the third game but missed out as Ruse saved a break point. After Swiatek took a 3-1 lead in the first set, both players started struggling on their serves as breaks of serve were seen in each of the next five games.
Swiatek lost her serve twice in the first set but was never in danger of losing it since she broke Ruse four times. In the second set, Swiatek continued to pressure Ruse’s serve as she broke the Romanian three times.
Also, Swiatek didn’t face any problems on her serve in the second set as she didn’t allow Ruse a single break point.
