Iga Swiatek reigns at the French Open again with ‘The One Where She Wins Her Fifth Grand Slam’

PARIS (AP) — Iga Swiatek’s made clear that she is an enormous fan of the TV sequence “Pals.” She even obtained an opportunity to hit some tennis balls with actress Courteney Cox — who performed Monica Geller on the present — shortly earlier than the beginning of the French Open.

So on Saturday night, a number of hours after successful her fourth championship at Roland Garros and main trophy No. 5 total, Swiatek was sporting custom-made white sneakers that her shoe sponsor stenciled with the phrases, “The One The place She Wins Her Fifth Grand Slam” in all capital letters, a nod to the names given to the sitcom’s episodes.

On the fee Swiatek goes, that celebratory flourish would possibly should be up to date. And sometimes. She solely turned 23 somewhat greater than per week in the past, in any case, and the way in which she is accumulating titles and overwhelming most opponents, significantly on clay, make it straightforward to imagine there are extra on the horizon.

“She’s the queen right here,” stated French Open match director Amelie Mauresmo, a former No. 1-ranked participant who received two main titles.

Even earlier than this newest triumph, capped by a 6-2, 6-1 win in opposition to Jasmine Paolini in Saturday’s remaining, Chris Evert was ready to say that her girls’s file of seven French Opens finally will likely be surpassed by Swiatek, observing: “She simply has all of the components to be a champion. She actually does. She checks all of the containers — the intangibles and the tangibles.”

Requested if she agreed with that evaluation, Paolini set free a hearty snigger and replied, “Undoubtedly.”

Swiatek is much much less more likely to provide any such pronouncements.

“It’s good to listen to such phrases about myself. However, nonetheless, I’m not considering in these classes, as a result of even being right here and successful 5 Slams appears fairly surreal. I might by no means anticipate it once I was youthful,” stated Swiatek, who’s 35-2 over her profession in Paris, together with a present 21-match successful streak that made her the primary girl with three straight titles there since Justine Henin in 2005-07.

“Attending to (double) digits right here looks as if nonetheless a protracted shot. So I’ll for certain work for it and you may anticipate that I’ll do my greatest to turn out to be a greater and higher participant yearly and to play my greatest tennis right here,” Swiatek stated. “Listening to this from Chrissie is absolutely nice, and I’m grateful for her and her phrases.”

Along with successful 4 of the previous 5 tournaments at Roland Garros, Swiatek collected the highest prize at the 2022 U.S. Open. She’s been a semifinalist on the Australian Open and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon, the place play begins on July 1.

Bettering on grass might be the following logical step in Swiatek’s growth.

However reasonably than look too far forward, let’s study what’s occurred within the first half of 2024.

Swiatek is now 43-4 with 5 titles this season, which implies she’s received greater than half of the occasions she’s entered, whereas reaching the semifinals at two others. At her previous three tournaments, all on clay, she is 19-0, turning into the primary girl since Serena Williams in 2013 to win the Madrid Open, Italian Open and French Open back-to-back-to-back.

Her lead atop the WTA rankings is so huge that she would have remained at No. 1 subsequent week even with a first-round loss in Paris.

“These numbers are usually not, let’s say, regular. (They) are one thing unbelievable,” Paolini stated. “She’s an unbelievable participant.”

What Swiatek does, Paolini defined, is keep proper on the baseline and take balls early. She makes use of plenty of topspin. Her pictures got here again a lot speedier than these of different girls. And her protection might be irritating.

Swiatek did have moments — if fleeting — when she confronted a problem over the previous two weeks. Within the second spherical, she wanted to avoid wasting a match level in opposition to four-time main champion Naomi Osaka. Within the semifinals, Swiatek went down a break at 3-1 within the second set in opposition to 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff earlier than taking 5 of the remaining six video games. Within the remaining, Swiatek obtained damaged to path 2-1, however then reeled off 10 straight video games.

What’s it like making an attempt to cease her as soon as she will get going like that?

“It’s laborious,” stated Paolini, who will bounce from No. 15 to No. 7 within the rankings after her first Slam remaining.

The query on loads of different folks’s minds is what number of extra of those matches Swiatek can win.

She is now 5-0 in title matches at majors and says she nonetheless feels stress forward of these largest of moments. Together with Saturday.

“It was an emotional win, as a result of I felt plenty of stress yesterday and at this time within the morning. And I knew if I’m going to only deal with tennis, I can form of combat by it, and on the finish, all of it went how I needed,” Swiatek stated. “So I simply felt actually pleased with myself.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis