Iga Swiatek’s dream tennis dinner guests? Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams
We’d like to be a fly on the wall for that meal.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek is well-known for being a vociferous reader and a student of tennis, but despite having already rewritten WTA record books and won five Grand Slam titles by the tender age of 23, the Polish star has made no secret of the fact that there’s still so much about her sport, and the world, that she’s eager to learn.
And if you ask her, she thinks three retired tennis greats can help her do that.
Prompted by a reporter at the All England Club after her first-round win over Sofia Kenin to name who from tennis, past or present, she’d most like to invite to a dinner party, Swiatek name-dropped three of the WTA’s most prolific champions: Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Despite being the highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2023 according to Forbes, Swiatek says she can still develop her business acumen—something for which Sharapova was particularly shrewd in as an active player, and continues to be since her 2020 retirement.
“Sharapova … we never really talked because she kind of retired when I was still going up,” she said. “I feel like she made some good decisions off the court in terms of her business, and she handled everything well. You can kind of take [an] example from her.”
(With Sharapova milling about at SW19 on more than one occasion this year, there’s no better time like the present for Swiatek to strike up a long conversation.)
Swiatek also expressed a desire to meet Graf, who retired from tennis two full years before she was born, and despite hailing from different playing eras, the current world No. 1 said that she’d most like to pick the German great’s brain about a key on-court intangible.
“It’s hard for me to compare our styles,” she said. “Obviously we’re playing in different eras of tennis. It’s kind of hard to find the same things, especially with her backhand and her slice, her volley, and me not being able to play these kind of things. So more about mentality.”
Swiatek might get her wish, in the immediate future or the long-term, if she finds a way to join the vaunted trio in lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time and earn herself All England Club membership for life.
The top seed’s quest to become the first player since Williams in 2015 to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year continues on Thursday against Croatia’s Petra Martic in a second-round Centre Court tilt.
Want to eat like Taylor Fritz? For a limited time at Chipotle, you can
Make sure you order double chicken.
If America runs on Dunkin’, American tennis player Taylor Fritz runs on Chipotle. The top-ranked U.S. man on the ATP Tour said earlier this year that it was a “dream come true” to unveil a new brand deal with the restaurant chain, and has been sporting a patch of the company’s logo on his clothing around the world ever since (among other perks, like getting free meals at any Chipotle restaurant whenever he wants).
Fritz was already on record that a hearty Chipotle bowl is his go-to meal after “a really tough workout,” and now, fans at home can experience what it’s like to eat like him and other elite American athletes ahead of this summer’s Paris Olympics.
The 2022 BNP Paribas Open champion is joined by basketball player Anthony Edwards, soccer star Sophia Smith, beach volleyball player Sara Hughes, and skateboarder Jagger Eaton on “Team Chipotle,” and each member of the quintet has hand-crafted a new menu item at the fast-casual Mexican food chain, which were unveiled earlier this week. Fritz’s signature meal, which customers can order exclusively through Chipotle’s website and mobile app, is a bowl with a white rice base, a double serving of chicken, with cheese, guacamole and sour cream on top.
“Every one of our Team Chipotle athletes has had a unique journey,” Chipotle’s chief brand officer, Chris Brandt, said in a statement. “By highlighting their stories and how Chipotle has been a key component of their training regimens, we hope to inspire and fuel the next generation of great American athletes.
Fritz and company are the lynchpins of Chipotle’s Real Food for Real Athletes campaign, which according to the brand, “focuses on helping athletes across all levels perform their best by providing proper nutrition through real food and fresh ingredients.” In the past, the chain has partnered with players from the U.S women’s national soccer team and NHL hockey players.
In addition to their eponymous meals, all five are also featured in new episodes of Chipotle’s “Unwrapped” video series, and in his clip, Fritz speaks about his big goals for 2024, which include an Olympic debut later this month.
“A big thing for me is eating things for me that are good for me that I still enjoy,” Fritz says. “At Chipotle, it’s just having that healthy, reliable meal that I can count on. I couldn’t be happier to have such a cool partnership.”
Fritz is seeded No. 13 this fortnight at Wimbledon, and showed the mettle of a man who was properly fueled in a speedy first-round win. He raced through his opening match on Tuesday against Australia’s Christopher O’Connell 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in just 91 minutes.
