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Incredible Swiatek stands in the way of Coco's teen dream
Swiatek is on a 34-match winning streak. Gauff hasn't dropped a set in her run to the final. Something's gotta give.
Days before her opening match of the 2022 French Open, Coco Gauff posed with her high school graduation certificate wearing the traditional convocation gown and hat in front of the Eiffel Tower. Bet no one is enjoying a graduation party from the Class of 2022 more than Gauff.
Bet no one is enjoying a winning run from the Season of 2022 more than Iga Swiatek. It now stands at 34 (and counting).
For that count to stop, an 18-year-old freshly-graduate student and fast-growing tennis professional will have to do what none of the more experienced women players have done since February—find a way to beat the world No 1.
The women’s singles final on Saturday between Swiatek, 21, and the teenaged Gauff might be the second-youngest Grand Slam final since 2000, but the air of unpredictability around it isn’t quite as strong as it was with the youngest (Emma Raducanu-vs-Leylah Fernandez, 2021 US Open).
That’s because Swiatek has stitched the kind of consistency thread that has been woven better only by Venus Williams (35) in this century in women’s tennis. The Pole has won five WTA tournaments on the bounce, two on clay and while dropping just five games in the 26 matches.
Such form can be lethal going into any Slam on any surface, let alone a Slam Swiatek has already won and on a surface which brings out her best tennis. Swiatek’s 2020 Roland Garros triumph—her first and only Slam title so far—had a very Gauff-like breakthrough feel to it, and after a quarter-final exit last year is back to being her dominant self in Paris.
Well, not quite as dominant as from two years ago, when an unheralded 19-year-old with a big game, bigger heart and little to lose dropped just 28 games and zero sets in flying towards the title. It’s a tad different now. Swiatek wears the world No. 1 tag handed to her by Ash Barty’s retirement, aware of the extra dose of pressure it brings. That, at times, has shown in her play and body language in the last two weeks, be it when she lost four straight games in her third-round clash or the first set to Qinwen Zheng in a tiebreaker the following match.
“I’m just trying to treat these matches as any other matches,” Swiatek said. “Because it is stressful, and I accept that. But I want to keep doing the same work.”
Gauff, meanwhile, has been carrying the mindset of a typical 18-year-old, even though her on-court game and off-court maturity may convince you otherwise. “I'm definitely ready to win (a Slam) but I'm not putting pressure on myself to win one. I think there's a fine line between believing in yourself and almost pushing yourself too much,” she said.
Gauff herself hasn’t been pushed too much this French Open. The American is yet to lose a set, showcasing the kind of tennis on the biggest stage many expected from the prodigy when she beat Venus as the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history at 15. And unlike many other American players Gauff isn’t alien to success on clay, having won the junior French Open title at 14.
Gauff has lost to Swiatek in straight sets both times they have met in the past; on the hard courts of Miami this year and on clay in Rome in 2021. The quick-learning youngster though has swept past players in Paris who have defeated her in the past—Sloane Stephens (2021 US Open) and Martina Trevisan (2020 French Open).
But Swiatek is no Stephens or Trevisan; certainly not in the current shape and form. The Pole’s forehands have only gotten bigger and more lethal as the season has progressed, leaving her rivals scampering for cover.
Gauff does have the agility in her movement to withstand and perhaps even counter that, but her serve needs to be at its absolute finest to trouble Swiatek. Gauff has won 71% of her service games in the six matches so far, significantly lower than Swiatek (85%). Add to that Gauff’s 33 double faults to Swiatek’s five, and the first hit could well decide which way the contest goes.
That, and how the world No 1 deals with the “stress” of being the runaway favourite to win her Slam No 2 in a big final. At the end side of the net will be a teen swinging for the fences in her first major appearance in it. And who knows that feeling better than Swiatek.
