In case there was any doubt, there is Iga Swiatek, celebrating and jumping non-stop, with plenty of energy to continue playing until tomorrow, if necessary. But not. Now, a week before the starting signal at Roland Garros, the Pole’s main task is none other than to take great care of her physique, because the work is done and the base is more than consolidated. That is to say, if beforehand she was already the great favorite, today she is even a little more so. She will arrive number one in Paris giving off the feeling that something very strange would have to happen there so that she does not achieve success, without leaving aside the traps that every great person hides, of course, but more imposing and intimidating if possible. She beat Aryna Sabalenka two weeks ago at the Caja Mágica and she does it again at the Foro Italico, witnessing a one-way final: 6-2 and 6-3 (in 1h 29m).
The Belarusian, two in the world, sighs and twists her face again and again: there is no way, what a torment, impossible to tickle her. Opposite, pure granite school, a tennis player who is gaining prominence and who should deviate a lot so as not to end up marking an era, because she has already taken that path. Swiatek, 22 years old, all vigor and all consistency, emerges with all his splendor at the gates of landing in Paris, where he will land as the undisputed player to beat. There are four titles this year – Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome -, 21 already in their showcases, four of them great, three at Roland Garros, the same number in Rome. If the masculine territory suggests a very open edition, zero certainties, the feminine proposes a collective demolition exercise: all against Iga, as simple as that. She is there, and several body lengths away from the others. She certifies this last episode.
Sabalenka hits and hits to the point of desperation, but again and again the harsh reality imposed by Swiatek hits. The Warsaw one becomes a denial and does not allow debate: it thwarts the seven break options available to his rival and sentences through the cold reality of numbers; She makes eight mistakes, compared to the Belarusian’s 28, with whom she has begun to build an attractive rivalry. There are 11 chapters since November 2021, now 8-3 in favor of the champion, now the youngest tennis player to win ten trophies in the 1000 category, since the introduction of the format in 2009. Serena Williams dominated — she achieved it at 32 years old — and Victoria Azarenka —with 31—. At the same time, Swiatek is the third to link Madrid and Rome, after Dinara Safina (2009) and Serena (2013).
The unknown, then, is to check how far his indissoluble exercise and that overwhelming tennis-control will go, and if there is any opponent who can pose real problems for him in the Bois de Boulogne. It doesn’t seem simple. In Madrid, the height favored the open grave proposal of Sabalenka, who had three balls to take the title, but in the Foro Italico, more similar to the Parisian record, the duel runs from start to finish in a straight line, like her likes. Clay court is a matter of head, strength and legs, and the Pole brings it all together: she does not blink, she is capable of returning the ball from very difficult positions and in defense, with the slowdown of the ball, she is practically unapproachable. This is how she marks territory, while the prophecy of the Australian Ashleigh Barty upon her departure, in 2022, continues to come true: “There is no one better to be the next number one.” And she applies herself, 103 weeks already at the top.
with four majors in the file, the same as Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Kim Clijsters and Naomi Osaka, now points out the five of Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis. “Thank you for making me improve,” she addresses Sabalenka, who regrets, ruminates – almost as many trophies (14) as lost finals (13) – and gets up to fight again in Paris. Swiatek will be waiting for you impatiently there. In case there was any doubt.
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