Wimbledon gifts ‘towel thief' Swiatek a souvenir she doesn't have to steal after flawless title run
On Saturday, Wimbledon marked her love of the towels by presenting the new champion with a personalised purple and green version — one that can never be taken away from her.
After her 6-0 6-0 thrashing of Amanda Anisimova in the final, Swiatek completed her media duties and then posed for a picture holding up a towel that had the words 'Property of Iga Swiatek, Wimbledon Champion' emblazoned on it.
'This one's for keeps,' Wimbledon posted on X, alongside a picture of a beaming Swiatek.
Swiatek had said following her opening round victory that tennis players loved their towels.
'It's a topic no one ever talks about,' she said.
'Every time I come back from a Grand Slam 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.' — Reuters
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Malay Mail
‘How To Train Your Dragon' flies high again: Director, star on pressure, puppets and bringing Toothless to life
LONDON, July 15 — How To Train Your Dragon writer and director Dean DeBlois says he feels both relief and pressure embarking on its sequel following the live-action remake's box office success. The fantasy adventure, which has grossed US$560 million (RM2.4 billion) worldwide since its release in June, came out some 15 years after the DreamWorks animation, which DeBlois co-wrote and co-directed. DeBlois also directed the two subsequent animations. Staying loyal to the original, the live-action follows kind-hearted young Viking Hiccup, played by Mason Thames, who secretly befriends a dragon he names Toothless. In an interview with Reuters ahead of the film's release on digital platforms on Tuesday, which includes behind-the-scenes vignettes, DeBlois and Thames spoke about bringing the animation to life. Below are excerpts edited for length and clarity. Q: What was it like revisiting this world and bringing it to life? DeBlois: 'It was certainly a fun challenge to take a story that I had basically put to bed after spending a decade of my life on it and to sort of dive back into the world but through the live action lens, which meant we could present a ... very grounded, a very credible version of this world. And that meant being able to scout locations in Iceland and the Faroe Islands and Scotland to start to design and build actual sets ... where we could walk around and touch things.' Q: What was it like stepping into the franchise? Thames: 'It was very daunting and slightly terrifying because ... so many people care about this world and these characters ... I really wanted to do Hiccup as a character justice ... and finding my version was a lot of fun.' Q: How did you bring to life some of the animation's famous scenes, like Forbidden Friendship and Test Flight? DeBlois on Forbidden Friendship: 'Our solution was to give Mason a dragon and we did so by creating foam versions of Toothless ... that would be puppeteered by Tom Wilton ... And so they worked out the choreography, the drawing in the sand, the sort of stepping around lines and coming to touch for the first time in this beautiful way set to John Powell's music.' Thames on Test Flight: 'It's just me on ... a giant mechanical bull with wind machines in my face ... I had the music playing in the background, which was really cool.' Q: Given the film's success, how do you feel going into the sequel? DeBlois: 'I feel relieved that the movie is being embraced, that audiences are showing up and they're definitely demonstrating that there's still an appetite for this world and these characters. And I also feel the pressure to deliver at the highest level we can ... No instalment of How to Train Your Dragon should feel like a disappointment that stains the franchise. So I always feel that pressure, for sure.' — Reuters


The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
Olympics-Flag football to make primetime Olympic debut at LA28
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Flag football will take center stage during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, after organizers confirmed the sport's medal matches will be held in primetime slots in its first-ever Olympic appearance. The International Federation of American Football (IFAF), in partnership with the National Football League (NFL), announced on Monday that the men's and women's medal games are scheduled for Friday evening, July 21, and Saturday afternoon, July 22, at BMO Stadium near downtown Los Angeles. The announcement comes as senior IFAF and NFL delegations visit Los Angeles for the first official meetings with Games organizers, marking exactly three years to the day before the LA28 Opening Ceremony. "Flag football will definitely be a hot ticket at the Games," IFAF President Pierre Trochet told Reuters on Monday. "We're going to be at a great stadium right in the heart of the city and we're going to have fantastic players on the field with NFL players available." Flag football is a non-contact variation of American football in which players wear flags attached to their waists. Instead of tackling, defensive players must remove a flag from the ball carrier to end a play. The sport is played on a smaller field with fewer players per side. The inclusion of flag football in LA28 follows a vote by NFL owners allowing NFL players to participate in the Olympic competition. Trochet said the primetime scheduling was a clear statement of a shared ambition to ensure flag football contributes a "defining element" of LA28's success. Organizers hope to capture the excitement of "Friday Night Lights," a cherished American tradition, and generate iconic moments for the sport's Olympic launch. "We could not dream of a better setup to start our debut in the Olympic movement and Olympic journey," he said. The IFAF delegation, including managing director Andy Fuller and senior NFL executives, is set to tour Exposition Park and other venues over a three-day visit. The group will also meet with key LA28 organizing committee members and attend the launch of a new NFL flag football brand campaign, which features Olympic gymnastics champion Jordan Chiles and flag football athletes from Australia and the U.S. (Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)


The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
Elmo's X account gets hacked, posts antisemitic and racist messages
Elmo speaks at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival in New York City, U.S., May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Hackers broke into the X account of Sesame Street character Elmo and posted antisemitic and racist messages, the makers of the children's TV show said on Monday. The Sunday posts, which have been deleted, called for violence against Jews, insulted President Donald Trump and demanded the release of government files on accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele. Elmo, a cheerful red Muppet, has more than 650,000 followers on X. "Elmo's X account was briefly compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts," Sesame Workshop said in a statement, adding the account has since been secured. X came under scrutiny last week when the account of the Grok chatbot developed by billionaire Elon Musk's company xAI produced content with antisemitic tropes. The posts were subsequently removed and called "inappropriate" by Grok's X account. Since Musk bought what was then known as Twitter in 2022, he has cut back on moderation. Extremist content has increased, causing some advertisers to pull away from the platform. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)