“She didn’t give Pegula or Gauff the slightest chance” Barbara Rittner lauds Iga Swiatek for her title in Paris but remains wary of the Pole’s dominance on Grass
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Barbara Rittner and Iga Swiatek
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won her second Grand Slam and second French Open title at the 2022 French Open when she defeated Coco Gauff in straight-sets. Iga won the title dropping only 1 set throughout the tournament and proved her tag to be the outright favourite for the title having been in an explosive form this season.
The win in the finals in Roland Garros was Iga’s 35th consecutive win which has now tied her with Venus Williams‘ record achieved in 2002 and Iga now joins the American great as the woman with most consecutive wins in the 21st century. She is however way behind Martina Navratilova‘s all-time record of 74 consecutive wins between 1984 to 1986.
Also Read: Top 15 longest winning streaks in Women’s Tennis
“It was remarkable” Babara Rittner on Iga Swiatek’s French Open title
Iga had been the champion in Roland Garros in 2020 as well and much to the disappointment of the fans, could not replicate her success during the 2021 season winning only two titles during the season. She however has been on a different level this season having a 44-3 record so far while finishing the clay season at 16-0 for now.
“It was remarkable how she managed to deal with these unbelievably high expectations at just 21 years of age. She has given the last proof of how good she is and what she is able to achieve. She showed that she can find ways to deal with difficult situations even during the tournament. She didn’t play her best tennis from the start, and struggled a bit in the third round, then didn’t win so easily afterwards, but then played her very best tennis in the semi-final and final – she didn’t give Jessica Pegula or Coco Gauff the slightest chance.
“She herself described what the title means to her, how valuable it is. In doing so, she impressively underlined the dominant role the No. 1 in world tennis is in right now, not only in terms of her game but also mentally,” said Germany’s BJK Cup captain Barbara Rittner speaking on Eurosport’s German Podcast Das Gelbe vom Ball.
Barbara Rittner unsure of Iga Swiatek making an easy transition to Grass
The challenge of switching to fast-paced grass courts from the claycourts is always a challenge and not many players are able to do it successfully. Rittner stressed the point that Iga is yet to prove herself on the grass courts as she has done brilliantly on hardcourts and claycourts.
“The biggest challenge now is the grass. Iga has shown what she is able to do on hard courts, and has impressively proven that she can continue seamlessly on clay. Clay has always been her best surface. On grass, she lost to Ons Jabeur in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year – admittedly in three sets, but 1-6 and 1-6 in the second and third set.
“On the other hand, she won the youth tournament there in 2018 as well. So, it will be interesting to see how she manages the switch to grass now and whether she can bring that focus and that dominant way of playing to the next surface,” added Barbara during the podcast.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)