NEW YORK (AP) — Good thing Iga Swiatek had a Swift start to her U.S. Open. There was some big news waiting when she got off the court Tuesday.
Swiatek quickly found out that Taylor Swift had become engaged to boyfriend Travis Kelce, a topic that dominated her postmatch news conference much more than matters of tennis.
Click to Gallery
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns a shot to Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, waves to fans after defeating Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns a shot to Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, reacts after scoring a point against Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Swiatek has been a devoted Swiftie for more than a decade, got a handwritten note from the singer while attending an Eras Tour concert shortly after winning the 2024 French Open and knows her way around Swift's music just as well as she does the court.
“Obviously she had a lot of boyfriends, so we know all about that. So hopefully this one will, you know, stick forever,” Swiatek said. “Travis seems like a great guy. She seems super happy, so I’m happy for her.”
The 24-year-old from Poland had an easy start to her quest to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in the same year, needing just an hour to beat Emiliana Arango 6-1, 6-2.
That seemed largely forgotten soon after. Her team showed her the news of Swift and Kelce — who attended last year's U.S. Open final together — on Instagram, which conveniently happened right around the time she was wrapping up her match.
“She posted when I finished,” Swiatek said. “Maybe that’s not a coincidence, I don’t know.”
Swiatek listened when Swift was the record guest on the “New Heights” podcast Kelce does with his brother, Jason, eager for news about the singer's next album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” Swiatek will obviously buy it — she's just not sure how yet.
“I kind of want to go to the store and buy it there physically,” he said. “I don’t know if there are going to be other ones released, because she does these countdowns on the website. I don’t know if she’s going to do another one or something. But maybe next one I’m going to actually preorder, but for sure I want to have the original, the first one, and I’m probably going to go in October to some store and buy it physically.”
Swiatek was puzzled when some reporters laughed at the number of Swift questions she received, and jokingly denied a request to tackle an actual tennis one.
She played brilliantly in a match in which she won the point on 23 of 26 first serves and had a 26-5 advantage in winners in the opening match of the day on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Swiatek went nearly a week between matches after losing in the mixed doubles championship match with Casper Ruud last Wednesday night. But her rhythm came right back in a dominant start to the tournament.
A second title for the 2022 champion at Flushing Meadows would make her the first woman to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year since Serena Williams in 2012. Swiatek also has a chance to regain the No. 1 ranking if she wins the title and Aryna Sabalenka loses before the quarterfinals.
That can all wait. Swiatek — and her friends she texted to make sure they knew — were more interested in talking about Swift.
“Well, I’m just happy for her, because she deserves the best,” Swiatek said.
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns a shot to Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, waves to fans after defeating Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns a shot to Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Iga Swiatek, of Poland, reacts after scoring a point against Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. envoys arrived in Berlin on Sunday for another round of talks intended to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv stuck to their sharply opposite views of a prospective peace deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were spotted entering a hotel in downtown Berlin.
Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin.
“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late Saturday.
Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces, and security guarantees for Ukraine.
“The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” Zelenskyy said. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — a guarantee, above all — that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat, Zelenskyy said Sunday that he will meet separately with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and, possibly, other European leaders later in the evening. He said he hadn't yet received any response from the U.S. to Ukraine’s latest proposals on the peace plan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control and abandon its bid to join NATO, among the key conditions for peace — demands Kyiv has rejected.
Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan, a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as U.S.-led negotiations drag on.
Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
Speaking to Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov said that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive," warning that Moscow will “have very strong objections.”
Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position," he said.
Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”
He warned that Putin's aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.” “If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.
Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack any European allies.
As peace efforts continued, Russia and Ukraine exchanged another round of aerial attacks.
Ukraine’s air force said overnight Russia launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones at Ukraine. In its daily report, the air force said 110 had been intercepted or downed, but missile and drone hits were recorded at six locations.
Zelenskyy said Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the south, east and north-east regions and work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water to multiple regions following a large-scale attack the previous night.
The Ukrainian president said that in the past week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of various types at Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.
In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house ablaze in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk in the Volgograd region, triggering a fire, according to the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov.
In the Krasnodar region, the Ukrainian drones attacked the town of Afipsky, where an oil refinery is located. The authorities said that explosions shattered windows in residential buildings, but didn’t report any damage to the refinery.
__
Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.
Günter Sautter, left, foreign and security policy advisor to the Federal Chancellor, and former Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umjerow arrive for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief advisor to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Ukraine's Secretary of National Security Rustem Umerov, right, and Günter Sautter, Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to Chancellor Merz meet in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
In this grab from a video provided by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on Friday, Dec 12, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records a video at the road entering of Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP)
