“10 more? That’s quite a bit,” John McEnroe dismisses Mats Wilander’s claim of Iga Swiatek’s career Grand Slam tally
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Mats Wilander, Iga Swiatek, John McEnroe
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won her third career major at the 2022 US Open and experts are chipping in to predict how successful can the Pole become on the Tour given she now leads the rankings by more than 5000 points as she holds the top spot with 10365 points in the singles ranking.
Swiatek won the US Open at the expense of Ons Jabeur. Jabeur lost her second successive major this season while Iga claimed her second Grand Slam having earlier won the 2022 French Open. Iga has had one-sided domination on the court as she leads the Tour with 7 titles from 7 finals this season.
“When Iga Swiatek plays at her worst, you have to be a hell of a player to beat her,”: Mats Wilander
With Iga now winning her first major on hardcourts, former World No. 1 and 7-time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander heaped praise on the Pole and made a bold prediction on the number of majors the 21-year-old will end up with when she calls it quits on her career.
“I honestly think 10 would be a good number because I think she’s playing a game that’s a bit different from the other women. She’s playing faster, she’s moving faster, and she’s shown that when she’s not playing well in this tournament she can slow down.
“She can keep the ball in play by defending so extremely well. When she plays at her best, I don’t see a woman being able to beat her, and when she plays at her worst, you have to be a hell of a player to beat her. Okay, maybe not on grass, but I think she’ll learn to play on grass too.
“I think 10 [Grand Slams] minimum,” said Wilander speaking on Eurosport seeing Iga retiring with at least 13 Grand Slam titles to her name as she continues her fine form as she becomes a Tour regular and continues to find her way around it.
John McEnroe finds similarity in Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz’s gameplay
While Wilander expects a big haul, American great John McEnroe, who also won 7 Grand Slams, begged to differ with his Swedish counterpart for yet another time as if their 13 Tour meetings were not enough for the Big Mac.
“I definitely think the sky’s the limit. I saw her win the French [Open] a couple of years ago and obviously then she was predominantly a clay court [specialist]. It reminds me a lot of Carlos Alcaraz, actually – she gets in and out of the corners better than almost any player I’ve ever seen.
“Alcaraz is one of the greatest movers ever. Swiatek is one of the best movers I’ve ever seen on a court. She took advantage of that – remember Ash Barty retired, she then had that incredible streak. Then the pressure got to her at Wimbledon, and maybe a little through the summer.
“She looked tense early in the tournament but pulled it together big time, so I have a tendency to agree with Mats. It’s going to be a bunch more. 10 more? That’s quite a bit, but certainly between five and 10, I would think,” commented McEnroe during the discussion with Mats.
While the final tally of Swiatek’s Grand Slams will be realised only once she retires, her dominance this year despite her young is certainly a sign of what the future beholds for the WTA Tour which is looking for a replacement for an authority like Serena Williams who retired at the US Open this year.
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Sarthak Shitole
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