The 19-year-old makes history: Swiatek as the first winner of a Polish Grand Slam – sport

Iga Swiatek was the first Polish woman to win the title in a Grand Slam tournament. Throughout the entire tournament in Paris at the French Open, the 19-year-old had a dominant performance and in the final she did not give Sofia Kenin a chance.

Polish President Andrzej Duda immediately congratulated him on Twitter. “An incredible historical success,” wrote the 48-year-old: “This day goes down in the history of Poland, Polish sport and Polish tennis.” Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was also excited. “What an incredible success, what a great story,” the soccer star tweeted.

The superior form of triumph surely surprised the 19-year-old herself. Some notable statistics and facts about his victory:

• As the first player since Justine Henin of Belgium in 2007, a Grand Slam winner stayed the entire tournament without dropping a set.
• Swiatek had won an incredible 70 percent of his opponents’ service games en route to the final.
• With the world ranking points earned, Swiatek climbed from position 54 to 17; his best position so far was 48.
• Only once since the introduction of world rankings in 1975 has a player with a poorer ranking reached the final in Paris.
• As the winner, Swiatek will receive 1.6 million euros. Before that, he had received a total of just over 360,000 euros in prizes.