Andy Roddick was appalled at the lack of credit Iga Swiatek gets from American audiences, right after she reached the US Open fourth round. The conversation around the WTA’s World No. 1 race has dominated headlines for the past few weeks, but Roddick put his bet on the Queen of Clay.
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“Iga, I feel like a lot of the time, especially for the American audience, the only time we talk about her is if she’s in a final or if she gets upset and that s****!” said Roddick on his Served Podcast.
Roddick then ran through exactly how her Grand Slam count stacks up against some of the sport’s biggest names.
“I went through the laundry list of people,” said Roddick. “She [Swiatek] has more Slams than Sharapova, than Clijsters, than Davenport, than Jim Courier. She’s equal with Edberg, Becker. She’s one off of McEnroe and Carlos, Venus, Henin, two off of Agassi, Lendl. We need to pay her more respect. She’s earned it.”
The stats back him up. Maria Sharapova finished her career with five majors, Kim Clijsters four, Lindsay Davenport three, and Jim Courier four. Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker both sit at six, matching Swiatek’s current total. John McEnroe, Carlos Alcaraz, Venus Williams, and Justine Henin all have seven, while Andre Agassi and Ivan Lendl top out at eight. And Swiatek is just 25 years old.
Roddick added that the No. 1 conversation shouldn’t overshadow what’s still in front of her in New York.
“She’s playing great coming into this tournament. I understand a lot of the conversation revolves around the four women in the hunt for the number one world ranking, that doesn’t mean she’s not still in the tournament,” added Roddick. “We are still playing for the US Open, we’re not just playing the number one Olympics.”
This season the six-time Grand Slam champion has been tested in different ways. She split from coach Wim Fissette before bringing in Francisco Roig, and results were choppy for stretches, with quarterfinal finishes at the Australian Open, Doha, Indian Wells, and Stuttgart, a semifinal in Rome, then an early fourth-round exit at Roland Garros.
The hard court swing has treated her better. Swiatek won the Canadian Open, beating Elena Rybakina in straight sets, then reached the Cincinnati semifinals before falling to Jessica Pegula in three sets.
Swiatek carried that form into New York, beating Marie Bouzkova 7-6(3), 7-6(3) to reach the fourth round, where she faces Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng on Monday, September 7.
Zheng reached that stage herself with a stunning comeback win over Madison Keys after coming through qualifying.
Swiatek holds a 7-1 head-to-head edge over Zheng, with the Chinese star’s only win coming in the Paris Olympic semifinals two years ago, a result that didn’t stop Swiatek’s rival from going on to win gold. Whoever advances from that matchup will face either Elena Rybakina or Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals.
Whatever happens against Zheng, Roddick’s larger point stands on its own. A six-time major champion shouldn’t need a ranking race to get people talking about her.