Credit: Twitter
Tennis fans were amused with world no 1 Iga Swiatek joking about the IGA Stadium in Canada being named after her. The IGA Stadium is the primary venue for the upcoming Canadian Open and is in Montreal. It was formerly known as Du Maurier Stadium and the Uniprix Stadium. The ace joked about what an honor it would be to compete in a Stadium named after her.
The Polish player joked during the press conference that it was a huge privilege that the stadium was named after her and that people should name more stadiums in her honor. She acknowledged it wasn’t the case but said it made her happy to pretend it was. The quirky response was shared on Twitter where it made waves among fans who enjoy her humorous personality.
She said, “Having a stadium named after me… huge privilege. Let’s pretend that’s the story… I feel more happy when I see that it’s Iga Stadium. They should do this more often”
Watch the video here:
Swiatek pictured practicing with tape over her mouth
The world no 1 is always looking for innovative ways to find the smallest of advantages, which at the elite level of any sport can be the decider between winning and losing. The 22-year-old was seen preparing for the Canada Open with her mouth covered by tape. While it was not officially revealed why the player chose to do this, fans speculated that it was to increase endurance by training her body to receive and deliver oxygen more efficiently and quickly. The Jury’s out on whether or not this is actually the case or even effective.
Iga Swiatek comes into the tournament with four titles already to her name this season, winning in Doha, Stuttgart, Roland Garros, and in her home country of Poland. This year she wants to brush off demons from her poor performance in the Canada Open last year, where she was knocked out in the third round, and look to show stronger form. She will face either Zhu Lin or Karolina Pliskova in the second-round match. She entered the tournament as the first seed and was given a bye-in to the second round.
