Best on red clay
As expected, World Number One Iga Swiatek faced little difficulty in retaining her French Open crown the other day. Not that she was dominant from the get-go; in fact, she wound up being a break down three games into the Final as she struggled to find consistency in her groundstrokes. Still, few in the 15,000-strong crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier believed heavy underdog Jasmine Paolini would actually prevail. And they were right; the two-time defending champion would go on to win the next 10 games and make the outcome a foregone conclusion. When the battlesmoke cleared, she was on the better end of a 6-2, 6-1 beatdown that cemented her status as the sport’s best on red clay.
Indeed, Swiatek’s ascent to the title at Roland Garros puts her in distinguished company; only Monica Seles (1990-1992) and Justine Henin (2005-2007) had hitherto managed to claim three successive Coupes Suzanne Lenglen in the Open era. And there is every reason to believe she will retain her mastery in Paris for some time to come. She has won in four of the last five years, with her last setback dating back to the quarterfinal round in 2021. So, yes, she was simply being gracious when she claimed in her post-mortem that “it wasn’t so easy as the score says.“ For all her attempts to downplay her preeminence, there can be no denying the numbers: she won 57 of 88 points, and needed just 68 minutes to write 30 on the set-to.
Significantly, Swiatek attributed her confidence under pressure to her close call in the second round. Against the comebacking Naomi Osaka, she survived match point and needed a tiebreak and 12 games in the opening and final sets to prevail. “I was able to manage it. And then you can just use it when you have next situations like that,” she said. Over her next four encounters, she dropped a mere 14 games all told; her remarkable run included 6-0, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-4 whippings of fifth seed Marketing Vondrousova and third seed Coco Gauff.
Up next for Swiatek: an attempt to improve on her Round of Eight showing at Wimbledon last year. Arguing that it stands as her biggest challenge to date is understating the obvious; she has yet to lift a trophy on grass in the senior circuit. As she herself has repeatedly admitted, it’s her least favorite surface — and for a reason, never mind her Girls Singles title at the All England Club in 2018. Which was why she termed her immediate past appearance “pretty nice. I feel like every year, it’s easier for me to adapt to grass.” In other words, she’s cautious, but confident. Exactly how Tomasz Wiktorowski, her coach, wants her to be. And exactly why other hopefuls know better than to write her off regardless of circumstance.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.