NEW YORK—As good as she’s been this year, Iga Swiatek came to the U.S. Open unsure of what to expect.
She complained that women use different, slightly lighter, tennis balls than the men do at Flushing Meadows, where she’d never been past the fourth round. She was trying to grow accustomed to the noise and distractions, the hustle and bustle, of the Big Apple. And she arrived with a record of just 4–4 since her 37-match winning streak ended in July.
