US Open third seed Agnieszka Radwanska paid an emotional tribute to her grandfather Wladyslaw, who passed away this month, hailing the man who once sold off his art collection to fund her tennis dream.
The Pole, a Wimbledon runner-up in 2012, pulled out of the Cincinnati tournament two weeks ago after her 81-year-old paternal grandfather passed away.
Wladyslaw Radwanski played professional ice hockey and then was his grand-daughter’s most important sponsor, selling paintings to fund her career as well as that of her younger sister, Urszula, who is also playing in New York.
“We were really, really close. He was always supporting us. I think he was our biggest fan, and he also played tennis. When we were little kids, we played together, as well,” said the 24-year-old Radwanska.
“He was really fit all his life, doing lots of sports. Both my grandparents watched my matches — it didn’t matter if it was the middle of the night or early morning or afternoon.
“My grandma still watches every one, all day or all night. They are so into tennis because of us.”
Radwanska has always remained close to her family — her father Robert coached her from childhood until two years ago when they agreed to part ways.
She now works with Poland’s Fed Cup coach Tomasz Wiktorowski although her father still retains some input.
“He was coaching me since I was a kid, about five years old. But then two years ago we just decided to split. I think it was something like after 17 years traveling together and practicing together, I think we had enough,” she said.
“We had to change something I have different coach, and he’s home and watching it on TV.”
Radwanska has become a woman transformed in recent times, dyeing her hair blonde and even managing to upset large sections of the Catholic establishment in Poland with a racy, nude photo-shoot.
“The pictures are certainly not meant to cause offense and to brand them as immoral clearly does not take into account the context of the magazine,” Radwanska said at the time in response to the ESPN magazine spread.
“Moreover, they do not contain any explicit imagery whatsoever. I train extremely hard to keep my body in shape and that’s what the article and the magazine is all about.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, Radwanska comfortably made the third round of the US Open by defeating Spanish world number 103 Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, 6-0, 7-5.
She next faces Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after capitalising on Torro-Flor’s 38 unforced errors and 10 double faults.
Radwanska hails inspirational grandfather
