Iga Swiatek says she’s expecting to cry over “all” of the episodes of Rafael Nadal’s upcoming Netflix docuseries, and might not be able to watch them if she’s about to play a match. The four-time French Open champion has always made it clear that Nadal is her idol, and she was in the stands on Court Philippe-Chatrier last year when the Spanish star returned to Roland Garros for a special retirement ceremony.
The world No. 3 is now working with one of Nadal’s old coaches, Francisco Roig, and they recently trained together at Nadal’s academy, with the 22-time Major winner getting involved in some practice sessions. But Roig let Swiatek down after making a crucial mistake when it came to the premiere of Nadal’s Netflix series..
Asked about the documentary, Swiatek replied: “Honestly, it’s a hard topic for us, because Francis told us in Madrid, ‘Hey, there is this Rafa documentary premiere’, and whole team got ready the night before with outfits and everything.
“And he was, like, It’s on 20th or – I don’t know. But it was a few days ago, the premiere? Francis told us it was a month ago in Madrid. And everybody got ready, and then he said, ‘Oh, I messed up the dates’.”
The former world No. 1 was gutted. And she’s expecting to be even more emotional when she finally watches the episodes. “I was so sad,” she added.
“Yeah, I’m going to watch it straightaway, unless I play the next day, because I will cry. I might cry on all of them. But I would love to [have been at] the premiere, as well, but I couldn’t because of, yeah, a planning mistake.
Swiatek’s off-court plans may have gone south, but the third seed looked unstoppable in her opening match at Roland Garros on Monday, needing only an hour to beat Aussie teenage wildcard Emerson Jones 6-1 6-2.
It was a straightforward victory for the six-time Grand Slam champion, but she still had to adjust to the heat, as temperatures went well above 30 degrees Celsius in Paris on Monday. “It is much different,” she explained.
Maybe it was that hot on the [Paris 2024] Olympics, but the balls were different, so I wouldn’t treat it as the same tournament. Yeah, when we came here, it was like 16 degrees and the ball was super heavy. You literally could put your whole body and whole power into the ball, and you would still feel like you control it.
“Now you need much more, like, touch, and you can’t go too much. Also, like, it’s a bit easier to play higher and with spin. The ball is bouncing off the court faster, so that gives you more advantage, I would say. But first you need to, yeah, have control over the ball, because it is playing faster in the air, and it’s easier to put it out.
