Wimbledon is not the only significant tournament at which Iga Swiatek has struggled to do herself justice. There is also the small matter of the “Warsaw slam”, as residents of the Polish capital have affectionately dubbed the fledgling WTA 250 tournament organised by Swiatek’s father, Tomasz, and played at the Legia Tennis Centre, where the 22-year-old trained as a teenager.
Last summer, Swiatek returned to the city of her birth with her status as a national treasure enhanced by her ascent to the No 1 ranking four months earlier, a milestone she followed by compiling a 37-match winning streak that brought six straight titles, including a second French Open crown. It should have been a triumphant homecoming; instead, the Pole was bundled out in the quarter-finals by Caroline Garcia of France, who went on to claim the title.
Swiatek was determined things would be different this time around and, after a stop-start week in which her progress was obstructed by a combination of rainfall, a backlog of matches and some obdurate opposition, the four-time grand slam champion made good on her ambition, defeating Laura Siegemund of Germany 6-0, 6-1 to earn her fourth title of the season.
“Despite a rough start in the first round [against Nigina Abduraimova], I showed you my tennis,” Swiatek told the crowd. “In terms of stress, this tournament is on par with Roland Garros for me. I managed to survive it, and it would not have been so without your support.”
For Swiatek, it marked a richly satisfying conclusion to a frenetic weekend that began the previous afternoon, when she cruised to a quarter-final victory over Linda Noskova, an 18-year-old Czech ranked 59 in the world, in a match held over from Friday due to rain. Hours later, the Pole returned to face Yanina Wickmayer, storming into a 6-1, 5-2 only to miss three match points and suffer two successive breaks as the Belgian, a former world No 12, levelled at 5-5 before bad light curtailed play.
It was a spirited performance from Wickmayer, who returned to the tour last summer following maternity leave, and her boldness continued to reap dividends when play resumed on Sunday lunchtime, the 33-year-old holding with aplomb and coming within two points of the second set before Swiatek edged home in a tiebreak.
No sooner was the final point won than Swiatek, her thoughts no doubt already turning to the final, turned on her heel and made for the locker room, barely noticing the man bearing a microphone who trailed forlornly behind her. A case of exit, pursued by a would-be interviewer.
When Swiatek returned an hour or so later, however, the sense of uncertainty that dogged her in the latter stages against Wickmayer was gone, replaced by the dead-eyed certainty of a serial winner. It was Swiatek at her most ruthless: destructive, decisive, unrelenting.
For Siegemund, a 35-year-old from Stuttgart ranked 153 in the world, the sight of Swiatek performing her signature frenetic footwork drills during the coin-toss must have seemed exhausting in itself. The German took the long road to her first singles final in six years, toiling for a combined total of more than six hours on Saturday to see off Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini and compatriot Tatjana Maria after the previous day’s showers. Siegemund suggested afterwards she had nothing left to give.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t put up more of a battle today, but it was just a little bit too much yesterday,” said Siegemund. “I tried my best but the legs, they stayed at the hotel today. But for me it was really a great success anyway, even though I’m obviously not happy about my performance. It was almost a win for me to be in the final at all.”
In truth, though, it was as much the quality of her opponent as the quantity of her court time that did for Siegemund. The experienced German left no stone unturned in her quest for a winning strategy. Overpowered from the baseline early on, she turned to all-out attack, following up a thunderous return with an equally thunderous drive volley, only to be passed. She then changed tack, attempting to chip and charge; in response, Swiatek raced forward to pick up her opponent’s deft, angled drop volley and flick it past her. Back Siegemund came with Plan C, drawing the Pole in with a drop shot, only to be outfoxed at the net. Swiatek, as she so often does, had all the answers.
Increasingly, the pressure on Siegemund became intolerable. First she was betrayed by her judgement, mistakenly electing to leave a pass that landed just inside the line. Then, gradually, she was betrayed her game, which began to leak errors under the unforgiving scrutiny of Swiatek’s relentless baseline barrage. The sole reward for the German’s efforts came after 54 minutes, when she found an ace to win her only game of the afternoon.
Swiatek, who thrives on rhythm and consistency, has not always been at her best over the course of a staccato week in Warsaw, partly because she is still working on the transition from grass to hard courts, but largely because she so desperately wanted to fulfil the expectations of an adoring public.
“It’s hard for me to separate the fact that my dad is involved in organising the tournament,” said Swiatek after her last-16 win over Claire Liu of the US on Thursday. “I care a lot, maybe that’s why it affects me.”
Be that as it may, the Pole’s first steps on the road leading to next month’s US Open, where she will attempt to defend the title she won last year against Ons Jabeur, were encouraging. Her serving, in particular, was excellent, with her delivery down the centre line of the advantage court particularly effective. Most impressive, though, was the mental strength Swiatek showed to deal with the unique pressures of playing before a home crowd.
That challenge was most obviously apparent in her struggle to see out victories over Abduraimova and Wickmayer, against both of whom she held commanding second-set leads. See them out she did, though, securing the title without dropping a set and winning the 50th love set of her career along the way.
“It’s not easy to play in Warsaw,” said Swiatek, who later confirmed that she would partner Hubert Hurkacz at next summer’s Paris Olympics. “But I’m so happy that we could manage and we really did everything we could, after a pretty tiring day yesterday. I wanted to put [my] all in and just go for it, and I’m pretty happy that I did.”