Iga Swiatek apologises to Wimbledon chiefs after stealing souvenirs for family and friends

Iga Swiatek has admitted to smuggling towels out of every Grand Slam tournament due to floods of requests from her family and friends. The Pole was pulled up by her Wimbledon interviewer for stacking her bag full after beating Polina Kudermetova on Tuesday, and her response was comical.

"Come on" she smiled. "It's a topic no one ever talks about. We love our towels. Every time I come back from a Slam I think I have like 10 friends and 10 family members wanting towels. So, sorry guys. Sorry Wimbledon. I don't know if I'm supposed to do that!"

Swiatek is only 24 but she turned professional almost a decade ago, and she has a huge amount of Grand Slam experience, having won four French Opens and two US Open titles. That, it turns out, has landed her and her loved ones more towels than they could ever have dreamed of.

"I have a lot at home," she added. "Trust me. I don't need many more. If I'm going play like 15 more years on tour I can't even imagine. I think I'm going to have to build another room in my house just for Grand Slam towels."

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Swiatek has never been beyond the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, making it her least successful Grand Slam on the circuit, and she has dropped down to fourth in the world rankings after coming in as the top Wimbledon seed last year.

But she is still one of the primary contenders to go all the way at the All England Club. And she made a confident start in the first round, winning 78 per cent of the points on her first serve, 81 per cent of the points on her second serve and converting all three of her break points en route to a 7-5 6-1 victory over Kudermetova.

Next up in the second round Swiatek will face Caty McNally - the player who demolished British hopeful Jodie Burrage on Tuesday. By the time they face off at SW19, the sweltering conditions are likely to have cooled, which has left Swiatek breathing a sigh of relief.

"Playing in this heat... I'm glad some clouds came," she said. "This day was pretty... I don't know. I didn't know how I'm going to survive it. In tennis we need to be ready for the rain, the heat, everything. Especially in the UK, as you see!"

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