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Iga Swiatek grasped the microphone with both hands.
“Should I say something else?”
“If you want.”
“I have no idea what. Sorry.”
She wasn’t very good at giving speeches, Swiatek had said earlier, and it turned out that was no understatement. Which was understandable. Chances for victory speeches like the one at the French Open in Paris are, after all, a rarity in the life of a 19-year-old.
It’s not an exaggeration to describe Swiatek as a tennis sensation. Restless and without uttering a single sentence, she burst into the final of the French Open. And even in his last game, the final, he kept going. She won 6: 4 and 6: 1 against American Sofia Kenin. It is the first Grand Slam title in Swiatek’s career.
One day before his triumph, Swiatek was still in the double semi-finals. She just lost that next to her partner Nicola Melichar from the US, but that didn’t affect her anticipation for her big day. And the force was there anyway. “The more games the better,” Swiatek said, saying that it would never occur to her to fold in doubles so she could go to the final on Saturday well rested. This is exactly the common practice in world tennis.
This desire for tennis had always been evident in Swiatek’s two weeks in Paris. The dominance he displayed on the sand was almost terrifying. On her way to the title, she beat last year’s runner-up Marketa Vondrousova, number one seed Simona Halep and, in the final, current Australian Open winner Kenin. Always clear, always clear. Playing a kind of tennis that bordered on perfection.
Anyone looking for evidence of Swiatek’s excellent form found it in the first ten minutes of the final: he won twelve of the first 15 points, recorded four winners, that is, points earned directly, and did not make a mistake in this initial phase. “I don’t have to win. I’m quite happy even if I lose,” Swiatek said the day before the final. He doesn’t feel any pressure, he enjoys his career.
The unconcern, the extremely stable nerves were some of the success factors of Paris. She is now richer at 1.6 million euros in one-time prizes. And he received congratulations from the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, who called this day “historic for Poland, Polish sport and Polish tennis”: the world had never seen a victory in a Polish Grand Slam tournament in individual tournaments.
Swiatek raised two people who had accompanied her to Paris in her winning speech after the one-sided match in which 21-year-old Kenin defended herself in the first set and then increasingly slackened in the second with a thigh injury. his father Tomasz, a 1988 Olympic rowing competitor, and his psychologist Daria Abramowicz. Both played an important role in this success, he noted. Her father was the one who encouraged her to train against her will as a child. It was not always easy. But he had the right feeling for the right sport. “I am infinitely grateful to him for that. He supports me so well,” Swiatek said later at the press conference.
“Go to the final like a normal first round game”
His mental trainer, a former professional sailor who, moreover, mainly deals with professional cyclists psychologically, has given him the exact recipe again: “Internalize your routines and apply them, change little in the processes on the field and enter into this match as a normal first-round match, “repeated Swiatek’s recommendation from his psychologist after winning the title. In fact, she didn’t seem upset, even if Kenin had impressive first-move winners; or if he made an indisputable mistake, Swiatek was stable.
Of course, the victory was not based only on calm. “I did well,” he said of the advice, “and I also trust my tactics and technique.” Kenin, number six in the world ranking, repeatedly highlighted his opponent’s “Spinny Forehand”. Playing forehand with a lot of spin was the biggest problem for her, she said.
Swiatek will make a big leap in the world rankings, from 54 to 17. He will postpone a planned course for now. Swiatek wants to know how far he can really go in tennis. That’s also what sets her apart from some of her colleagues on tour – she seems mirrored. “Women’s tennis has a problem at the moment, there is no consistency at the top. We don’t have Nadals, Federers or Djokovics. So my big goal is to be consistent,” Swiatek said once in Paris these days.
If you were to achieve your goal, the competition would be a big problem.
