As one of the most formidable forces currently in women’s tennis Poland’s Iga Swiatek has revealed that it was actually a member of the ATP Tour who inspired her to play the way she does.

Speaking to the German publication Tennis Magazine, the 19-year-old says she is fascinated with 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal and he has had an influence on how she plays. Something that has been picked up by others in the world of tennis. Former world No.1 Mats Wilander drew a parallel between the two following Switek’s triumph in Paris last year when he said ‘once she gets control of the rally with her forehand, you just can’t get out of the grip. It feels like I’m watching Rafa Nadal.’

As to her development, Swiatek said she has been able to develop quicker due to playing with male players. She is currently the youngest player in the top 20 on the WTA Tour. Her shock win at the French Open in 2020 took place just two years after she won the Wimbledon girls’ title.

“I play a lot with men because there aren’t that many female players in Poland. This allows me to develop faster as a player. I didn’t watch tennis too much when I was young. The only player who fascinated me was Rafael Nadal,” she explains.
“I guess I copied my style of play from him. I like to hit the balls with a lot of top spin. My first coach also told me that it was unusual for a girl to play with top spin. He advised me to focus on it as one day it will be a great strength.”

Continuing her praise of Nadal, the Pole says her admiration for him has increased even more ever since they met in person. A surreal experience for somebody who used to pick his character to play tennis on the playstation due to his use of the top spin.

“Since I now know him not only as a player but also as a person, I respect him even more as a person. He’s humble and has stayed the same guy he was before winning so many titles. When I was young I loved the way he looks and the energy he plays with.” Swiatek said.

The world No.18 is continuing her successes from last year into this season. At the Australian Open she reached the fourth round before losing to Simona Halep in three sets. Following on from Melbourne, Switek clinched her second WTA title in Adelaide on Saturday. In the final she crushed Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-2, by hitting a total of 22 winners against six unforced errors.

Swiatek has pulled out of the Qatar Open after going through some ‘intense weeks’ in Australia. She is scheduled to return to the Tour next month at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Prior to this week few would have heard of the youngster Juan Manuel Cerundolo who is yet to break into the world’s top 300.

However, that has all changed this week thanks to a fairytale run at the Cordoba Open in Argentina. Prior to the tournament, 19-year-old Cerundolo had never played in the main draw of an ATP Tour event and had only ever won seven matches on the lower level Challenger circuit. His career prize money stood at $38,277 which is less than what players participating in this year’s Australian Open qualifying tournament earned.

Despite being one of the biggest outsiders playing in Cordoba, Cerundolo has managed to exceed even his own expectations with a shock run to the final. In the process he scored wins over Thiago Seyboth Wild, third seed Miromar Kecmanovic and seventh Thiago Monteiro. He continued the winning momentum on Saturday with a hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, triumph over compatriot Federico Coria.

“Honestly, I still can’t believe what is happening,” Cerundolo on-court following his latest win. “It was a really tough match, I was playing very solid in the first set but he started to come back and then anything could happen. After the second set, I did well to recover mentally and withstand him.”

The unprecedented run of the Argentine has made him the first player to reach the final of an ATP Tour event on his debut since Spain’s Santiago Ventura at the 2004 Casablanca Open. He is also the youngest player from his country to reach a Tour final since Jose Acasuso back in 2001.

A former top 10 junior player, Cerundolo attributes his breakthrough to a recent change in rackets which has enabled him to compete better with the top players.

“It’s helped me to be more powerful,” atptour.com quoted him as saying. “I have to use less strength to hit the ball. It’s a better thing for me.”

Describing himself as a ‘defensive counter-puncher’ Cerundolo says he is not intimidated by the power of his rivals. His three most recent matches on the Tour have gone to three sets.

“I like to hit with the other guy’s power. When you face powerful opponents like Fede [Coria], you have to go after them a little bit or else things can get complicated,” he said.

Cerundolo’s older brother Francisco is also enjoying success on the Tour after winning his first ATP Tour match at the tournament earlier in the week. He is ranked considerably higher at 135th in the world and won three Challenger titles last year.

Standing in Cerundolo’s way of his maiden title will be fifth seed and veteran player Albert Ramos-Viñolas who knocked top seed Diego Schwartzman out of the tournament. Regardless of the outcome, the rising star is set to rocket up the rankings to inside the world’s top 220 for the first time in his career.

The Spaniard went on social media to announce he is not going to travel to Mexico.

Rafa Nadal went on Twitter today to announce he has decided not to play in Acapulco this year due to a lingering back issue but apparently that’s not the full story.

Nadal also pulled out of Rotterdam which starts on Monday stating the back injury he suffered in Australia was holding him back but another piece was made public today that the main reason Nadal won’t play is the tournament finances.

Usually a player of Nadal caliber will be attracted to smaller events by what is called an apperance fee which is basically a fee paid to the player to show up and play. Due to the pandemic and the fact most tournaments have lost revenue due to no fans or limited capacity budgets have decreased to a fraction.

The Spaniard also stated the reason he played in Australia with the injury was because it was a grand slam and if it was any other tournament he would have pulled out.

We saw another instance where John Isner called the ATP system broken after the Miami Masters cut its prize money and said it’s not fair and that tournaments should be properly audited.

In Nadal case the apperance fee would be roughly estimated from $500,000 to one million dollars and that will most likely include travel and accomodation.

Acapulco is scheduled for Monday March 15th to the 20th which means fans can probably expect to see Nadal back in action in time for Miami.