Iga Swiatek leaves Rome as the most well liked participant in tennis, having reeled off 12 consecutive victories and within the course of turn into the third lady in historical past to have claimed the distinguished Madrid and Rome titles back-to-back.
The 22-year-old will head to Paris to attempt to turn into the second lady in historical past to assert a uncommon clay-court triple by profitable Madrid, Rome and Paris in the identical season. Only 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, in 2013, has beforehand achieved the feat.
Though Swiatek would be the overwhelming favourite, the three-time Roland Garros champion prefers to maintain her deal with the controllables. She talks repeatedly about course of, about staying humble, and she or he backs up her phrases by by no means underestimating an opponent.
Sounds quite a bit like 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in some ways, doesn’t it?
“Obviously I am confident. I feel like I’m playing great tennis,” Swiatek mentioned on Saturday after taking out Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-3. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I really want to stay humble and really focused on getting everything step by step. Grand Slams are different. There is different pressure on the court and off the court.”
Now 36-4 on the season, and 14-1 on clay (77-10 lifetime), Swiatek says the work she has put in to enhance her serve helps her win matches on the most important levels this spring.
She solely misplaced 18 factors on serve towards Sabalenka and saved every of the seven break factors she confronted. It’s an indication that she is ready to play the next share of service factors on her phrases, which permits her to dictate and dominate early and infrequently.
“Overall I try to treat these points as any other point. I’m not feeling like I’m under so much pressure,” she mentioned of the break factors she saved towards Sabalenka as she claimed her twenty first profession title. “Maybe also because I know I’m a great returner, even if I’m going to get broken, I can work it out.
“I think in this tournament, my serve was kind of really helping me. All this work that we’ve been putting actually paid off in those important moments. I’m really happy with that because that’s what we’ve been working for.”
Swiatek will attempt to carry the identical vibe into Paris, the place she has received 25 of 26 matches because the begin of her title run in 2020. The Pole is on a 14-match Paris profitable streak and can bid to turn into the primary lady to win three straight Roland Garros titles since Justine Henin in 2007.
She says she is much less pressured this yr as a result of she is considering much less about rankings and extra about staying locked into the method.
“I’m chilled out because I kind of knew that if I’m going to work hard and if I’m going to be in the right mindset, this is achievable,” she mentioned. “I’m happy I was so focused and disciplined throughout the tournament to do that. I feel like I’m in the right place.”
It all provides as much as an incredible alternative for Swiatek, and an especially tall job for anybody with designs on stopping her in Paris…
Source: www.tennisnow.com
