IGA SWIATEK CANNOT stop crying.
As she lay on the yoga mat on the floor, still dressed from the match, she covered her face as much as possible with her hands and hat, but she couldn’t control the tears streaming down her face. me.
Swiatektwo-time defending champion, just a few minutes removed from his French Open second-round match with Naomi Osaka and the nearly three-hour clash pushed her to her limits, testing her to the very last touch.
Despite being down 4-1 in the deciding set and then facing match point, Swiatek won the match – but the emotional toll the match took was evident in every drop tears, every breath. Video of this scene quickly spread widely.
“[I was] just overwhelmed with emotions,” Swiatek said afterward. “I honestly thought I was going to be eliminated from the tournament. Even though I felt something on the field, it still affected me afterward. I’m happy that I won, but I still feel like I’m really in a difficult position.”
Nine days and five matches later, Swiatek has won — again.
On Saturday, she won her fourth title at Roland Garrosand the fifth largest trophy, with an overwhelming victory of 6-2, 6-1 via jasmine paolini in just 68 minutes. She currently has the most Grand Slam titles of any female player on the tour, bar none Venus Williamsand she participated Roger Federer and Monica Seles are the only players in the Open Era to win all five of their first major final appearances.
She became the first woman since Justine Henin won three consecutive Roland Garros titles, tied with Henin for the third most women’s singles titles at the tournament in the Open Era.
But what Swiatek revealed after the match with Osaka made this victory different from all the previous ones. Although Saturday’s clash was relatively straightforward, as were all the matches after the Osaka match, that uncontrolled emotion demonstrated the pressure of being the favourite. and how overwhelming the world number 1 can be.
And yet, Swiatek found a way to handle it all and win.
“I almost got eliminated from the tournament in the second round,” Swiatek told the crowd after the final. “I need to believe that this will come true, so this is a very emotional tournament.”
SWIATEK, WHO’S TURNED He finished 23rd during the tournament, having been world No. 1 for all but eight weeks during the past two years. She has been major champion since October 2020 and, while others have struggled with the attention and fame that comes with the title, Swiatek rarely falters on the court despite today’s expectations. increasing.
In fact, she was almost ready for it.
Swiatek began working with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz in 2019 and after impressing on court at the pandemic-delayed French Open in 2020, Swiatek – then ranked 54th – said told reporters that she thought the new attention and expectations would “get to everyone.” will be fine with me.”
And instead of waxing poetic about her childhood dream of becoming the world’s top-ranked tennis player or her desire to win more major titles, Swiatek immediately said her priority was finding consistency in her performance. your results in the future.
“That’s why we are [in women’s tennis] there are too many new Grand Slam champions because we are not as consistent as Rafa [Nadal]Roger [Federer]and Novak [Djokovic]”, Swiatek said. “That’s why my goal is to be consistent. It will be very difficult to achieve that.”
It’s a mentality that has continued to serve her well.
Dr Ashwin Patel, a mental performance consultant and executive board member of the Society for Applied Sports Psychology, has never worked with Swiatek but has heard similar views expressed by other other high-achieving professional athletes and believe it is paramount to their success.
“There’s a misconception that once an athlete reaches the top they suddenly feel fulfilled and happy, but I’ve never actually heard an athlete say that,” Patel told ESPN. so”. “For elite athletes, the pursuit of excellence drives them, titles and wins are simply a byproduct of that, but they really just enjoy getting better. They feels as excited about improving and making those technical changes as it is about implementing them.” comes not from the results but from the challenge of it all.”
For Swiatek, the results have also come. Since her breakthrough in Paris less than four years ago, Swiatek has won 21 more titles, including the 2022 and 2023 French Opens, the 2022 US Open, the 2023 WTA Finals and 10 titles at the 1000 level. She took the number 1 spot in April 2022, after retiring Ashleigh Barty, and in the midst of a 37-game winning streak. But Swiatek seems to be taking it all with ease.
“After Roland Garros [in 2020]We also start preparing for success and there will certainly be difficult times and great pressure,” Swiatek said at the time. feels exactly right, because I’ve never been number 1. Maybe we’ll just have to see and react.”
For 17 months, she showed few outward signs of stress. She continuously wins and maintains her rankings. But when Aryna Sabalenka closing in on her in 2023 and taking top spot after the US Open, Swiatek admitted she was “sad” to lose it but found holding it “exhausting”. She said she will learn from the experience.
“Next time [I’m] in the same situation, I would have done some things differently because, yeah, it was a little stressful, and it shouldn’t have been. Swiatek said. I mean, tennis in general is stressful, but I should accept it a little bit more. Next time I’ll do it differently, so I guess that’s a positive thing.”
“I’m really proud of myself for not stopping and the pressure for not crushing me.”
Iga Swiatek
She reclaimed the No. 1 ranking eight weeks later following her win at the WTA Finals and has not relinquished it since. Swiatek is currently leading by more than 3,000 points Coco GauffNew 2nd place on the rankings.
“I feel like because I’m at the top of the WTA, I have to have some standards,” Swiatek said in February. “Sometimes it’s a little harder to calm down because you feel like everyone is chasing you. There are some things that have changed because of where you are, but on the other hand, I always try to remind you. I’m the same person no matter what my rating is and no matter what the number next to my name is.”
Patel said the change in perspective on being No. 1 could simply be a matter of recalibrating how Swiatek sees it.
“It could be an acknowledgment that once you’ve reached a certain level of success, that doesn’t mean it’s promised,” says Patel. “Then it’s the ability to say, ‘I’m facing some adversity, how am I going to deal with this? How am I going to work to get it back?’ And then see it as an opportunity to get it back and see it as an exciting prospect and enjoy the process of getting there.”
DURING HER BATTLE in the match against Osaka, Swiatek didn’t seem to enjoy the process or the battle. She looked defeated, especially in the second set, which she lost 6-1. But in the decider, she seemed to regain control. She started taking a few more seconds between points and went to her towel. After that, she started playing her own game and didn’t let Osaka dictate the style of play. Point by point, she fought her way back into the match.
Sabalenka understood her emotional reaction after the win and said it was something she needed to do to regroup before her next match.
“I completely understand, that is [a] a very difficult match,” said Sabalenka, the two-time defending Australian Open champion and currently No. 3 in the world.[She] was really close to Los[ing] that match. I guess she just wanted to get rid of all that — not negativity — but get rid of all the stress. I think I would actually do that. Yes, there is a lot of pressure in tennis, but only if you focus on that pressure.”
The comeback victory and tearful debut appeared to have lit a fire under Swiatek in Paris. Even competing against major champions like Gauff in the semi-finals and Vondrousova Market in the quarterfinals, Swiatek never gave up more than six runs in a match. Vondrousova, the reigning Wimbledon champion, won just two matches in total.
On Saturday against Paolini, Swiatek certainly looked as if she had been there before. After being broken in the third game of the match, Swiatek immediately responded by improving his level. She won her next 10 matches – and 11 of her final 12 – with a series of powerful shots and growing momentum. The result is guaranteed for most of the match. However, when the match ended, Swiatek quickly fell to his knees on the clay court in celebration, before hugging Paolini at the net. Afterwards, she rejoiced with her teammates and family in the stands.
With five major titles to her name and a hold on the No. 1 ranking, Swiatek has proven that she is not only the most dominant superstar in the sport but perhaps also the most mentally strong.
And now she believes it too.
“I know I have what it takes to win this tournament, even though I almost got eliminated in this match. [the] round two with Naomi,” Swiatek said on NBC after the final. “I do not know. I just survived that match and then it was gone. I just played with a lot of confidence so I’m really proud of myself for not stopping and the pressure for not crushing me.”
