• Iga Swiatek says she is still scared of Serena Williams.
• The top-ranked Pole is playing at the ATP/WTA Cincinnati Masters this week.
• Williams will play against Emma Raducanu on Tuesday in her final tournament before retiring.

Iga Swiatek admitted on Monday that she is still scared of Serena Williams, even though she is currently the number one player in the WTA.

This week, the top-ranked Pole is playing at the ATP/WTA Cincinnati Masters. On Tuesday, the 40-year-old Williams will play against Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open, in the first match of her final season.

Swiatek told reporters on Monday that she had never been brave enough to have a deep conversation with Williams.

“It’s hard for me to make eye contact with Serena, there are always so many people surrounding her,” Swiatek said.

“I’m quite shy so around her I’m like a kid in kindergarten.”

The two-time winner of Roland Garros, who won six titles this year thanks to a 37-match win streak, has played four matches in Cincinnati. She won her only match there as a qualifier in the first round of the 2019 tournament.

Now that she is much more well-known, the 21-year-old can’t explain why she is so nervous about talking to Williams.

The American is going to retire after the US Open, and Cincinnati is now set to be her last tournament before she does so.

Swiatek did seem cautiously interested in the possibility of playing the legendary player with 23 Grand Slam titles if they were to meet in the first round of the Open.

“It would be the last chance to play her,” Swiatek said.

“I’d love to, if only to see how it is to face her on the other side of the net.”

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