PARIS —
Iga Swiatek says that she has “no expectations” for Wimbledon despite taking her
winning streak to 35 matches by securing a second French Open title.
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The world number
one cruised past teenager Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in Saturday’s final at
Roland Garros to win her sixth successive tournament this year, including four WTA
1,000 titles and one major.
The Pole won the
Indian Wells-Miami double to show her hard-court prowess, having also lifted
the title in Doha, and has now dominated on clay by emerging victorious in
Stuttgart, Rome, and Paris.
But to extend her
unbeaten run, she may have to improve her career grass-court record of four
wins and four losses in main-draw matches.
“My coach (Tomasz
Wiktorowski) believes I can win more matches on grass,” said Swiatek, who has
reached the second week at seven consecutive Grand Slam tournaments.
“I don’t know about
that yet. But I would like to add like one or two.
“But honestly,
grass is always tricky. I actually like the part that I have no expectations
there. It’s something kind of refreshing.”
Last year, Swiatek
showed signs of improvement on the surface by reaching the Wimbledon fourth
round and her coach Wiktorowski saw his former charge
Agnieszka Radwanska reach
her only Grand Slam final at the All England Club in 2012.
“I’m going to just
prepare my best,” said Swiatek.
“Maybe with his
experiences that he had with Aga Radwanska, it was her favourite surface, so
maybe he’s going to give me some tips that are actually going to be really
helpful, and I’m going to enjoy playing on grass a little bit more.”
Passing Serena ‘special’
She equaled
Venus Williams’ run of 35 straight wins in 2000 for the
longest winning streak by a woman in the 21st century.
Swiatek’s
victory also took her past Serena Williams’ longest unbeaten run of 34 matches,
something she says made her win even more satisfying.
“I think
honestly, it may seem pretty weird, but having that 35th win and kind of doing
something more than Serena did, it’s something special,” said the 21-year-old.
“Because I
always wanted to ... have some kind of a record. In tennis it’s pretty hard
after Serena’s career.
“So that really
hit me, you know. Obviously winning a
Grand Slam too, but this one was pretty
special because I felt like I’ve done something that nobody has ever done, and
maybe it’s gonna be even more.”
Swiatek has also
now won her last nine finals, with the only WTA final defeat in her career
coming in a low-key event in Lugano when she was just 17.
“I try to treat
it as any other match, which is pretty hard and kind of not possible, because
there are always going to be like bigger amount of stress,” she added.
“I guess I’m
kind of accepting that a little bit more and just, I try to lean on the
strengths. ...
“I’m also aware
that my opponents are also going to be stressed. So I try to not panic and just
be less stressed than they are.”
Swiatek now
boasts an impressive 21-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros, although she has a
long way to go to match her idol
Rafael Nadal’s 111-3.
“He had many more chances to lose, so I think his
stat is much, much better,” she said of the 13-time champion, who faces Casper
Ruud in Sunday’s men’s final.
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