French Open 2024: From stress to serenity how Iga Swiatek won ...

9 Jun 2024

BBC Sport

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French Open 2024 From stress to serenity how Iga Swiatek won

French Open winner Iga Swiatek's aura at Roland Garros is becoming so great that she is being dubbed the 'Queen of Clay' - and tipped for a career Grand Slam.

Swiatek's aura at Roland Garros is becoming so great that she is now being dubbed the 'Queen of Clay'.

The key statistics show why:

Swiatek has won 21 matches in a row at the French Open - the fourth-longest streak in women's singles in the Open era
Swiatek has won 35 of her 37 matches at Roland Garros
She has not lost in Paris since 2021

By beating Paolini on Saturday, Swiatek has become the youngest woman to win four French Open titles in the Open era.

Only Chris Evert (seven), Steffi Graf (six) and Justine Henin (four) have matched or bettered her tally.

American great Evert, who won 18 major titles between 1974 and 1986, says she worries "every day" about Swiatek beating her record at Roland Garros.

"When I put my head under the pillow I’m worried about Iga," Evert joked on Eurosport.

"I think Iga will end up on double digits. I don’t just think she will beat my record here - I think it’s double digits."

Asked for her response to Evert's comments, Swiatek smiled. "It’s nice to hear such words. But I’m not thinking in these categories," she said.

"Even being here and winning five Grand Slams seems pretty surreal. I would never have expected that when I was younger.

"Getting to double digits here still seems a long shot.

"I will sure work for it and will do my best to become better and better every year – and play my best tennis here."

While most of Swiatek's Grand Slam success has come on the clay, her dominance on the WTA Tour has been underpinned by her ability on the hard courts.

Her other major triumph came at the 2022 US Open, with 13 of her 22 WTA titles coming on the acrylic.

Grass has been her least proficient surface - having played just 23 matches on the surface in her professional career, compared with 205 on hard and 90 on clay.

Wimbledon is the major tournament where she has had the least success as a professional.

Last year's run to the quarter-finals was her best performance, although she did win the junior title at the All England Club in 2018.

"I think Swiatek will win all four Grand Slams," said former British number one Annabel Croft, who was summarising the final for BBC Radio 5 Live.

"Look at Nadal - I think people thought he would never win Wimbledon but he found a way to win it."