While Andy Roddick was at the top of his game during the early 2000s, one player that made him break a sweat was Roger Federer. The two had an incredible rivalry that went on for years. However, in the 24 matches played between the two, Roddick could only manage 3 wins. The scars of the past were remembered again as Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek’s rivalry took an interesting turn.

Like the Federer-Roddick rivalry, Swiatek has also dominated her matches against Gauff. Recently, at the Italian Open, she completely outplayed Gauff and Roddick had to come to Gauff’s rescue to defend her performance. On the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, he said, “Coco can get away with wayward serving against players that are not Iga Swiatek. She can’t get away with those rallies against someone like Iga and frankly, she did that in the back of the second set, back-to-back double faults.”

Further, he went on to add, “I think she is hitting the ball well like she has done this year. Swiatek is a great player and sometimes you can get stuck in a bad matchup. I was a part of one for way too long, couldn’t get through, everything that Roger did bothered me. I think that everything that Iga does well affects Coco in a negative way.”

Interestingly, Gauff just has a solitary win against Swiatek in 11 outings. It came at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati last year. Despite Swiatek’s immense dominance over Gauff, the Polish star made a strange remark about her rival and downplayed the only defeat she’s had over her American rival.

Iga Swiatek plays down her only defeat against Coco Gauff

In the ongoing Italian Open, Swiatek rode on massive mistakes made by Gauff to win her semifinal encounter comfortably. Following her victory, she was asked if the nature of surfaces played an important role in the matches between these two rivals. In denial of this thought, Swiatek said, “Well, it’s hard to compare. In Cincinnati, we have one of the fastest hard courts on tour. Really hard to compare.”

Further, she went on to add, “But I know that I did some stuff wrong in Cincinnati, and I didn’t want to repeat those mistakes. Usually, players change their tactics when we go to different surface. I was ready for anything. I was ready to just stick to my plan and be consequent with that.”

Swiatek will face another old rival, Aryna Sabalenka, in the summit clash of the Italian Open. It’ll be interesting to see if she can lift the title in Rome.