“She’s the boss” French Open tournament director heaps praise on Iga Swiatek for breaking stereotypes criticising women’s tennis
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Amelie Mauresmo and Iga Swiatek
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has been dominant on the Tour since the start of the season even before she became the top-ranked player. Having made 8 tournament appearances so far, only the Dubai Tennis Championships saw the Pole fail to make it to the semi-finals as she lost in the second round to eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko.
With 7 semi-finals so far this season that include 5 titles with a 5-0 record in the finals, Iga looks unbeatable at the moment given all of those titles have come consecutively with four of those being WTA-1000 titles and the WTA-500 Stuttgart Open. Barring the 2022 Madrid Open where she did not participate, she has won all the WTA-1000 events so far and has silenced all the critics who questioned her ability when she replaced Ash Barty at the top of the rankings after the Australian’s shocking retirement.
As the focus now turns to the 2022 French Open which will begin on 22nd May, tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, the former World No. 1 and 2-time Grand Slam champion, discussed the impact of Swiatek on women’s tennis since she became the World No. 1. With the WTA Tour often getting flak for variety of champions and little consistency as compared to the ATP Tour, Swiatek has bashed those claims convincingly this season much to the delight of Mauresmo.
“What Iga [Swiatek] has been showing us for the last few months, it’s clear that she’s the boss. I think we are seeing the rise of this new generation. Swiatek, Naomi Osaka if she manages to find her consistency at the highest level, Ons Jabeur who also has a completely different game. I hope that the spectators of Roland-Garros will be able to appreciate it. Women’s tennis has been criticised for several years for its stereotypical style of play. I think that a new era is starting,” said Mauresmo as reported by Eurosport.
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Iga Swiatek the favourite for the 2022 French Open
Having won the 2020 French Open as a teenager and becoming the lowest ranked champion at the Grand Slam, Iga is the favourite to win this year’s French Open as well. With back-to-back Clay titles in Stuttgart and Rome that included a successful title defense in the Italian Open when she defeated Madrid Open champion Ons Jabeur in straight-sets, Iga is a heavy favourite going into the Slam.
With a 37-3 record for the season including a 9-0 record on clay heading into the French Open and having a 28-match winning streak, the fourth best since the start of the century, it would require some immense effort for someone to stop Swiatek at the moment who is now into her 6th week as the World No. 1.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)