Thursday, September 19, 2024

French Open 2024 LIVE: Alcaraz, Swiatek, Osaka, Tsitsipas, Gauff, Rublev

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The One Where Iga Met Monica…published at 16:28

Swiatek v Osaka

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport at Roland Garros

Iga Swiatek takes a selfie with Courtney CoxImage source, Instagram

With success comes stardom and the naturally-introverted Iga Swiatek has had to adjust with that.

The world’s best women’s tennis player is now the highest-paid female athlete on the planet after taking home £18.75m last year.

Prize money has been beefed up by lucrative sponsorship deals with high-end sponsors like Porsche, Visa, Lego and On, while Hollywood stars including Zendaya are desperate to meet her.

Swiatek remains as humble as you would expect. In New York last year, she hit with local kids on a street court in Brooklyn and did the same again when she arrived in Paris last week.

Oh, and that was with the help of Friends icon Courtney Cox.

“It is an important thing for me if sponsors have social and charity projects, too,” Swiatek, who released a short doc about her life this week in conjunction with her Swiss sports brand sponsor, told BBC Sport.

“These community events with On I have is something I enjoy because I’m able to meet local communities in New York or in Paris and promote tennis at this local level.

“Projects like that can convince more people to try to play or watch tennis.”

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