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Tennis fans recently expressed displeasure over Coco Gauff's mispronunciation of Iga Swiatek's name at the WTA Finals.
Gauff and Swiatek are currently in Cancun, Mexico, for the year-end championships. They have been drawn in the same quartet, the Chetumal Group, and will kickstart their campaign on Monday, October 30. The Pole is scheduled to lock horns with reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and Gauff will take on Tunisia's Ons Jabeur.
Ahead of her match in Cancun, Coco Gauff participated in a media session where she revealed that Iga Swiatek is her travel buddy. However, she mispronounced Pole's surname. Her slip of the tongue has not sat right with tennis fans on the internet.
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A fan argued the American would've heard Swiatek's name several times on the court every time after losing eight out of nine matches to the Pole.
"You'd think she'd know the correct pronunciation from hearing Iga's name announced as the winner so often when she's on the court," the fan wrote.
Another fan said Coco Gauff's goof-up indicated that WTA players' are more inclined toward watching the men play on the court.
"Proof that wta players only watch atp matches, like girl you’d know what her name is if you heard the commentators a couple of times," the fan tweeted.
A third fan expressed his dejection, writing:
"How can she [Coco Gauff] be this clueless about how u say Swiatek."
Here are a few more reactions from X (formerly Twitter):
Iga Swiatek - "I think any one of us can win the WTA Finals"
Iga Swiatek recently denied considering herself as the favorite at the WTA Finals.
"Well, I don't think in that categories because on the other hand you can always say first two seeds are going to be the favorites, or the first seed," the four-time Grand Slam winner said during the pre-tournament presser.
"But honestly, so many things can happen this week. Overall in any tennis tournament, I stop thinking that way. I think any one of us can win this tournament [WTA Finals]," she added.
Swiatek mentioned past winners, including Caroline Garcia (2022) and Garbine Muruguza (2021), who triumphed at the WTA Finals as the underdogs. She said:
"I mean, Cara Garcia last year, I don't know if she was fourth. She wasn't in the top three I think, and she still won. Same with Muguruza in Guadalajara. History shows that it's not about who's the favorite."
Swiatek was included in the draw as the second seed behind Aryna Sabalenka.
