Paris (AFP)
Poland’s Iga Šviontik refused to put herself under pressure after winning the French Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of tennis, by confirming that she would approach the English Wimbledon Championships scheduled between June 27 and July 10 “without expectations”, despite her impressive streak of 35 consecutive matches without defeat.
On Saturday, Šviontik won the Roland Garros title for the second time in her career, after dominating the final and defeating American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3.
The 21-year-old Polish became the first player since American Venus Williams in 2000 to reach 35 consecutive wins, but she is still far from the record set by Czechoslovakian-American Martina Navratilova (74 consecutive wins in 1984).
After the sudden decision of Australian Ashleigh Barty to retire from playing after winning the Australian Open at the beginning of the season, Švuentek imposed herself as the most prominent star in the yellow ball courts, achieving Saturday her sixth title in a row.
In 2020, the Polish’s arrival in the Roland Garros final was a resounding surprise, especially as she was participating in the French Championship for only the second time in her career, and had never gone beyond the fourth round in any of her previous Grand Slam participations.
Šviontik crowned her wonderful career by winning the title at the expense of American Sofia Kenin by winning her 6-4, 6-1, declaring herself as one of the most prominent rising faces in the world of yellow football.
But she entered this year’s edition of the French championship in a completely different situation than it was in 2020, as she became the world’s number one after Barty’s decision to retire.
With her level this season, it was clear that it would be difficult for anyone to stand in the way of her quest to win her second major title and continue her winning streak.
Švuentek has not tasted defeat since mid-February, when it fell in the eighth round of the Dubai Tournament at the hands of a former champion of Roland Garros, in the person of the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
The Polish showed that her strength is not limited to a specific type of court, after being crowned champion on hard courts in the Indian Wells and Miami 1,000 tournaments according to the “WTA” classification to add them to the Doha title, she imposed her dominance on clay courts by being crowned champion in Stuttgart and Rome and now Roland Garros.
Now it has to show its development on the grass courts, where it contented itself with four victories and four defeats, not counting the qualifiers.
Švuentek emerged victorious from her last nine final matches, while the only final she lost in her career dates back to 2019, when she was 17 years old, in the Swiss Lugano tournament, at the hands of Slovenian Polona Herzog.
The Polish revealed that she is trying to treat the final matches “like any other, which is difficult and not possible to a large extent because there will always be more pressure.”
She continued, “I realize that tension will also control my competitors, so I try not to panic and be less nervous than them.”
Šviontik raised the number of her victories in Roland Garros to 21 against only two defeats, but she is still very far from the number of her Spanish ideal, Rafael Nadal, who has so far achieved 111 wins against 3 defeats on his way to 13 titles in the tournament, which he later plays in her final match for the fourth time. Ten against the Norwegian Casper Rudd.