Iga Swiatek reacts to ‘disappointing’ news of Simona Halep failing drugs test at US Open – WTA Finals Diary

Swiatek reacts to news of Halep failing drugs test

The 31-year-old Romanian has vowed to clear her name and many players have said they find it difficult to believe she intentionally took a prohibited drug.

“For sure it was confusing to me because I wouldn’t expect hearing this news,” Swiatek said on Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

“Simona, from my point of view, seems like a person who always cared about being fair, and she was a great example for me.

“So hopefully… I don’t know how it works in terms of the system that they’re going to… Is she going to be tested a couple of more times or whatever?

“Hopefully, it’s going to be more clear for fans and for us. But, yeah, it’s kind of like disappointing, and she must feel really bad.”

Sakkari buoyed by Antetokounmpo support

It’s an incredible time for Greek sport at the moment with Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas solidifying their status among tennis’ top ranks and Giannis Antetokounmpo starting another season with the Milwaukee Bucks looking like one of the most dominant players in the NBA.

Antetokounmpo, who led the Bucks to their first championship in 50 years, recently told me in Abu Dhabi how much he admires Sakkari, who had a tough mid-season stretch but rose to the occasion when she needed to, coming up with a clutch runner-up finish in Guadalajara last week to qualify for the WTA Finals in Fort Worth.

“Maria Sakkari, she’s amazing. She’s like a ball of fire and I love that about her. She plays with a lot of intensity. She’s a good friend of mine and I wish her the best,” said Antetokounmpo.

Sakkari draws lots of inspiration from Antetokounmpo.

“He is my idol. He is the person that I look up to the most. Him and Rafa [Nadal] I would say. These two people are the people I want to try and look like,” Sakkari said on Saturday.

“Giannis, he is an inspiration, not only because of his story and you know how it started. It’s just that his focus and the way he does things during the match, in practice, off the court. Like the way he spoke to me a few times, it just makes me admire him even more.

“He is just very unique. I don’t think there are many athletes like him around the world. I’m very grateful and thankful to have someone that I can speak to like him because he is going to dominate. He has been dominating, but I think he is very young, so he is going to be dominating for the next few years.

“His mentality is different. He is unbelievable. We’re from the same country, so it’s very big for us to have someone like him.”

Greek pride

Sakkari is a proud Greek and is thrilled to be part of this current sporting revolution in her country.

A mixed-team event called the United Cup was recently announced on the tennis calendar, where the highest-ranked players on both the men’s and women’s tours qualify with their respective countries to form mixed squads in a nation-v-nation format.

“What I’m most excited about is Greece is a very small country; we will probably be the No.1 seeds, if our rankings stay the same,” Sakkari explained, referring to her compatriot Tsitsipas.

“I think it’s pretty special for our country like this to have. I want people back home to remember that because they’ve been very hard on me and Stefanos sometimes.

“When we lost our finals last week, we get to the finals, and we don’t win. They just forget that, God, we are from Greece, and we have two top-five players. Would you ever imagine that?

“If we are the No. 1 or even No. 2 seed in the United Cup, I think that’s enormous. Just a country like Greece in front of all the big countries like the U.S. and England, I don’t know, France, Germany. Just to have a country representing like, how can I say… the leader of that cup. It’s big.”

Mama knows best

Last year, Ons Jabeur just missed out on a spot in the WTA Finals as Anett Kontaveit went on a tear and snatched that last ticket to the season finale.

This time around, Jabeur left nothing to chance and qualified second, out of eight players, to secure her place in the elite eight showdown in early September following her runner-up showing at the US Open.

She joked that she made some popcorn and put her feet up while watching the rest of the field battle it out in Guadalajara for those last few available spots in the season-ending championships.

It was Jabeur’s mom who gave the Tunisian the push she needed to lock down her WTA Finals debut early.

“Qualifying early, I didn’t have to deal with all the stress. I took my mom’s advice, she told me, ‘You have to go for it from the beginning of the year, please’, and I did that,” said Jabeur during the draw ceremony at Drover Hotel in Fort Worth on Friday night.

Jabeur’s parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece all flew into Texas – from Tunisia and France – to join her at the WTA Finals this week.

After a historic season where she made two major finals and broke every possible record for Arab and North African tennis, it’s only fitting the world No.2 gets to close out the year with her nearest and dearest by her side.

Howdy y’all

The draw ceremony for the WTA Finals each season is always a fancy shindig, where players get to glam up for a day and be part of the tour’s “iconic” photoshoot.

This year, with the championships returning to the United States for the first time since 2005, the event fully embraced its debut in Texas, and it made for a very warm and jovial atmosphere for everyone involved.

The ceremony, which was followed by a cocktail party, took place in a barn-like space at the Drover Hotel, with huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the wooden ceiling.

Players’ names were printed on belt buckles, which were picked out of a hat to determine which round-robin group they landed in, and Fort Worth city council member Leonard Firestone welcomed the WTA tour with a speech, in which he advised us to practice our ‘howdy y’all’ – a signature greeting that embodies that famous Texan hospitality.

Media day on Saturday followed a Texas theme with Jabeur showing up to her press conference wearing a flannel shacket and Caroline Garcia talking to reporters dressed in cowboy boots, an all-denim outfit and a cowboy hat.

#nofilter

Daria Kasatkina looked like she was having a blast at the gala on Friday, posing for the cameras with her girlfriend, Olympic figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, while wearing sunglasses that matched a popular Instagram filter.

When called on stage during the draw ceremony, Kasatkina joked that a fellow player got jealous and snagged her shades. Moments later, Aryna Sabalenka walked up to Kasatkina and placed the sunglasses on her face.

“The story with them is very simple. Natasha, my girlfriend, she just sent me a picture. She was at home. She was sending me the pictures of the glasses from the shop. I said, ‘Take them’. And she brought them. We got matching sunglasses. Yeah, they were my signature yesterday.”

Sabalenka keeps it real

It’s no secret that world No. 7 Sabalenka has had her struggles on serve this season, tallying up a whopping 398 double faults through 50 matches contested in 2022.

When interviewed on stage during the gala on Friday, the powerful 24-year-old was asked to tell the story of her 2022 campaign.

“I think I was the queen of doubles faults this season, definitely,” confessed Sabalenka.

“If you guys have any questions why, just what happened there, there’s my coach somewhere,” she added with a laugh.

“This season was definitely challenging for me. For me, it’s like a miracle to be here and I’m really happy to be here. It was such a tough year and I’m happy I got through this and just standing in front of you guys.”

Last-minute shake-up for Garcia

Garcia is back at the WTA Finals for the first time since 2017, on the back of an impressive season that saw her rise from No.75 in the world in June to her current position of No.6.

French coach Bertrand Perret was one of the reasons Garcia was able to get back on track and pull off impressive feats like winning the title in Cincinnati as a qualifier and making her maiden Grand Slam semi-final in New York shortly after.

In a surprising turn of events, Perret decided to exit Team Garcia just a week ahead of the season-ending championships in Fort Worth, telling the French daily newspaper L’Equipe there were issues that affected the atmosphere within the team and it didn’t make sense to stick around for one last tournament.

Garcia did not share details about the split but said she asked Argentinean coach Juan Pablo Guzman to join her and her father Louis Paul in Texas, in the wake of Perret’s decision to part ways.

“I just would like to thank Bertrand and all the hard work we did this year. It was a great investment personally and professionally. We started far away and we came to the top of it at the end of the season,” said Garcia on Saturday.

“He decided to leave the team after Mexico, and I respected the decision. And now I have to be focused on the present, on the action, and on the best preparation I can have to play in this tournament. It’s a big one. So I have to keep my mind clear and just be focused on the moment.

Speaking of Guzman, she added: “He helped me during the second part of the year, so he did know me already. He came to help me with organisation, to give me a few tips, and to help me with preparation for the match because I needed someone. And as he knows me, it’s easier to get in the team.”

Garcia commences her WTA Finals campaign against Coco Gauff on Tuesday.