By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday October 13, 2020
In 2019, at Roland Garros and making her debut, Poland’s Iga Swiatek gave the tennis world a stunning preview of what they would see the following year when she swept through her first two matches and lost just six games in the process.
She had just blasted past China’s Wang Qiang in the second round, 6-3, 6-0, when she was asked exactly how she had been able to make the transition from juniors—where she had won the Wimbledon Girls’ Singles title in 2018, less than a year ago—to pros look so seamless.
Her answer, like her tennis, was impressive.
‘It was quite, like, normal to me just to go to another level,” she said. “I've done that all my life, so why would that be different?”
Reporters hadn’t yet unearthed details of Swiatek’s relationship with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz, but in that statement we had evidence that not only was Swiatek a blossoming talent, she was also building the mental fortress that would set her up for groundbreaking success just over a year later at Roland Garros.
After Swiatek completed her historic title run on Saturday in Paris to become the first Polish player to ever win a Grand Slam singles title, and the youngest Roland Garros women’s singles champion since Monica Seles in 1992, it was natural for many to wonder: What can she do for an encore?
To those, some unsolicited advice: Stop it! It’s best to push pause on this achievement. Let it soak in, appreciate it, process it. Too often in sports our search for the next big thing limits our appreciation of the big thing we have right in front of us…
At 19, Swiatek has done what could not be done in over a century of Polish tennis. And the best part? She displayed a deep amount of respect for Agnieszka Radwanska, a true pioneer from Poland, and one of the most adored WTA talents of the last two decades, after her triumph.
What did it feel like to be the first Grand Slam singles winner from Poland? she was asked by a reporter.
“I just feel like I kind of made history,” she said, before adding: “But I still think that Radwanska, she achieved, like, a lot because she played on the top level of WTA for, I don't know, 12 years. I don't even know the number. I know there's going to be a lot of people who are going to compare us. But I think I have to be really consistent for the next couple years for everybody to name me like the best player in Poland because still I have a lot to do.
"Still I think that's kind of her place, you know.”
How do you not love what Swiatek said right there? She left the door open for herself to become the best player in Poland’s history, but only if she can prove herself over a longer stretch of time.
It’s a remarkably self-aware, realistic statement that once again demonstrates the maturity of Swiatek.
All this after she’d just ripped through the Roland Garros draw to the tune of 28 dropped games (tied for the second-lowest in women's singles history in Paris). Swiatek hammered World No.1 Simona Halep in a revenge-style bloodletting in the round of 16 and then dealt admirably with what was supposed to be crippling pressure over the next two rounds, as she sent two unheralded but treeing qualifiers packing.
Just when we thought a reality check might be coming in the form of feisty Sofia Kenin in the final, Swiatek showed no lack of purpose or confidence. She finished as she started in Paris, hitting the high notes to break open a tense first set and then storming to the finish line with a swagger in her step.
Swiatek’s Paris run: a triumph of mind, body and spirit.
The body, of course, was the vehicle through which her intellect and passion flowed. In possession of a diverse, intuitive game, Swiatek moves with a dancer's ease on the clay, shifting her footwork nimbly so that she can fly into her groundstrokes, which are potent from either side.
It’s fitting that Swiatek and Canada’s Bianca Andreescu are the last two teenagers to win major titles, and two of the three players that have had success the earliest in their Grand Slam careers over the last two decades. Andreescu won the US Open in 2019 in just her fourth Grand Slam main draw. Swiatek triumphed in Paris last weekend in just her seventh.
They are two of the three players to have won their maiden major in seven or less Grand Slam appearance in the last 20 years, and they’ve each done it with a wonderfully diverse style of tennis.
It's hard to tell which has more impact, Swiatek's power or Swiatek's creativity. They work in tandem, setting up the points to be finished in myriad ways. Certainly, the 19-year-old’s forehand is a true menace. Her coach, Piotr Sierzputowski, says it was one of the shots he wanted Swiatek to perfect during quarantine.
“Iga has a huge forehand but it’s like really mind-dependent, like if she believes in it or not, so we have to do a lot of repetition and a lot of technical, small stuff, which will give her confidence,” he told Tennis Now this spring.
Evidently that work was done with aplomb. Swiatek’s forehand was the dominant stroke in the final, leaving Kenin overpowered at times. After the final the American gave a solid breakdown of what was most impressive about Swiatek’s game: everything.
“The spinny forehand, it obviously doesn't look like it's so difficult, but it has so much spin, it bounces up,” she said. “It's obviously going to my backhand. I missed a few backhands cross when I had the chances. It's not an easy shot. She has a really good backhand down the line. She went a few times behind me. Dropshot was also well for her. She served big on some points.”
The tennis is clearly there for Swiatek, but it was the mind that was her secret weapon during this trance-like title run. Full credit to her willingness to embrace the psychological aspect of the sport, a decision that Swiatek herself made several years ago. Enter Abramowicz, who was in Paris for the full fortnight, and who has clearly connected with her pupil on many levels.
Let’s keep in mind that Swiatek isn’t the only player trying to forge a better tennis game by using the power of the mind. Pretty much every player, whether they employ a sports psychologist or not, is trying to strengthen their game in this capacity.
But Swiatek has embraced it fully, and is reaping rewards that come with blocking out external pressures and expectations.
“I focused on technique and tactics,” she said. “I tried to get rid of expectations, you know, just play one ball after another. I didn't really care if I'm going to lose or win, as I said, like yesterday. So really, I think the main key was just keeping my expectations low.”
Everything in unison has created the perfect storm and the perfect platform for Swiatek, not just to reach her potential for a spell, but to stay at a ridiculously high level for seven magnificent matches.
Press play on Guns-n-Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle,” the warmup tune of choice in Paris, blaring from her headphones, and you have a recipe for a history-making triumph.
Before the final most pundits wondered how Swiatek would react when she was finally placed under pressure in a match. Having lost just 23 games through her first six matches, it was agreed that the precocious teenager had breezed through her matches, perhaps even a bit too easily.
Would the pressure finally get to her if she found herself at 5-all in a set during the final, or trailing by a break?
We’ll have to wait til the next Grand Slam to find out because at Roland Garros in 2020, Iga Swiatek ruled the jungle and every other player was, as the great W. Axl Rose once said, on their knees.