Fans noticed two interesting things that occurred moments after the Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek match ended as the American had an interesting celebration while the Pole gave what appeared to be a very cold handshake.
On Sunday, the top-ranked American female tennis star overcame the five-time Grand Slam champion 6-4 6-4 in a high-quality opening match of the United Cup final.
In both sets, Gauff was down by a break before recovering and ultimately sealing a two-set victory.
Shortly after collecting her third win over Swiatek in 14 meetings, the 20-year-old pulled off the digging celebration.
Some interpreted it as the American displaying that she had to dig deep against the world No. 2 but some thought the message behind that was different and an attempt to shade the rival.
What’s she digging ? #gauff pic.twitter.com/ak3rfBn1fT
— Tennis GIFs 🎾🎥 (@tennis_gifs) January 5, 2025
When they arrived at the net, the 23-year-old gave a cold handshake to the winner.
A very unusual cold handshake from Iga Swiatek. https://t.co/GkvB047iXU
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 5, 2025
Gauff gave credit to Swiatek: It was tough, not gonna lie
Even if there was some tension between the two during or after the match, that didn’t prevent the American tennis star from acknowledging that the four-time French Open winner made her work extremely hard.
“I have the belief that I’m one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis I’m hard to beat. Today I think I played some great tennis. I’m glad I was able to get a point for Team USA. It was tough today, I’m not gonna lie,” the 20-year-old said following the win.
By beating Swiatek at the United Cup, Gauff also earned back-to-back wins over the Pole for the first time in her career – she was also victorious in their WTA Finals meeting in November.
Tennis World USA