Fresh off a dramatic title-winning run at the Mutua Madrid Open, World No.1 Iga Swiatek is showing off her glamorous side on the newest cover of Elle magazine in her native Poland -- one that's fittingly dubbed the "sport and chic issue."
Swiatek previously graced the cover of Elle in her home country two years ago, for the January 2022 issue -- shortly before she rose to the World No.1 ranking on the heels of Ashleigh Barty's retirement from tennis. For that shoot, she wore a ruffled two-piece black outfit, a wide-brimmed hat, with a pop of color in the form of orange flip-flops on her feet. The reprise for this year's June cover, which hits newsstands on Tuesday, sees a more mature Swiatek in more ways than one -- from her stylistic choices to the interview she gives.
"Two years ago, I wanted to prove that I was in a good place, I didn't feel like a fully experienced competitor," the now four-time major-winner tells editor-in-chief Marta Tabiś-Szymanek, as quoted on the magazine's Instagram. "I was learning to face the first wave of success and expectations associated with it.
"I'm no longer just a tennis player. My role is not as easy as I imagined, dreaming of a career as a 12-year-old."
Styled by Karolina Limbach and photographed by Gosia Turczyńska, Swiatek models for a pair of covers. In the first, she wears a classy black ballgown, with a high neck and one long sleeve, with a cutout at the waist and her hair pulled back. She lets it down for the second cover, as she poses with one arm above her head, in a striking red dress.
Swiatek's cover shoot -- where she wore light makeup by Lancôme, in one of her first off-court appearances since becoming the first athlete to sign a worldwide ambassadorship with the beauty brand last month -- earned raved reviews, from everyone from skier Lindsey Vonn to her Polish Billie Jean King Cup teammate Magda Linette, who called it "absolutely stunning."
"I appreciate when I can dress elegant, feel feminine, and attractive," she tells Tabiś-Szymanek.
As the road to Roland Garros, the year's second Grand Slam, continues on Swiatek's beloved clay, the World No.1 next leads the field at this week's Internazionali BNL d'Italia, which she's won twice. Swiatek saved three championship points in Saturday's final in Madrid against 2021 and 2023 champion Aryna Sabalenka, outlasting the World No.2 in more than three hours on court -- a match that many fans and pundits dubbed the best of 2024 so far.
In her pre-tournament press conference in Rome, Swiatek said she took inspiration from tennis' repetitive nature to get comfortable with posing -- and lauded the team behind the shoot for making her feel "confident and taken care of."
"I would say posing wasn't easy at the beginning. I had a coach onset that showed me what to do. Then it got easy because we're kind of used to repeating movements [as athletes], even on court. I used that to pose a little bit better," she said.
"At the end, it was great. I was doing weird stuff. On the photos, it appeared so nice, I was like, 'Oh, my God.' ... It's almost like an art when this guy showed me how to pose.
"At the beginning for sure I felt rusty, but I felt really confident and taken care of. When you're kind of living your normal life and you're being just yourself, it's sometimes nice to feel so glamorous. It's also good to treat yourself that way. So, yeah, it was really great."
