Iga Swiatek on Friday firmly declined to predict the future of tennis now that greats including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are nearing the end of their careers.
The 21-year-old Pole who has won Roland Garros in two of the last three editions, could not hazard a look into the future of the sport when the icons have left.
Federer is aiming for a comeback at the Laver Cup next month in London after two seasons of knee surgery drama while Williams will hang up her racquet sometime after the Open in New York.
“These are the players that I watched when I was younger. For me, it feels like they’ve always been in these tournaments and they’ve always been competitive.
“There was always this rivalry between the big three, and Serena dominating.
“For sure it’s going to be kind of weird and different.”
She added: “I don’t have any predictions who is going to lead or dominate right now. For sure I’m going to do my best work to just learn and to make progress.
“It’s hard to predict. Hopefully tennis is going to go in a good direction. For sure they gave us a lot in terms of all the fandoms that they created, the attention they had.
“Hopefully we’re going to continue doing good jobs as tennis players and set a good example.”
