Two years ago, when Iga Swiatek stormed to the Roland Garros title as a 19-year-old, her avowed intention was to bring order to the women’s game. It has taken time and the retirement of Ashleigh Barty to get there, but it is fair to say she has arrived. It was Coco Gauff’s misfortune to be standing in her path when she did.
There have been some lopsided women’s finals at the French Open down the years, and it is testimony to Gauff’s talent and tenacity that she survived her first grand slam final with her dignity intact as Swiatek tightened her stranglehold at the top of the game with a 6-1, 6-3 victory, claiming her second title in three years on the Parisian clay.
How best to measure the dominance of the world No 1? This was her 35th victory in a row, surpassing Serena Williams to equal the longest winning run this century, set by Venus Williams in 2000. It was also her sixth straight tournament win and ninth successive victory in a final. All have been won in straight sets. If Barty slowed the revolving door of women’s champions with her victories at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, Swiatek has brought it to a shuddering halt.
“It may seem pretty weird, but having that 35th win and doing something more than Serena did, it’s something special,” said Swiatek. “I always wanted to have some kind of a record. In tennis it’s pretty hard, after Serena’s career. So basically that really hit me. Obviously winning a grand slam, too. But this was pretty special, because I felt like I’ve done something that nobody has ever done, and maybe it’s going to be even more.”
A bundle of hyperactive energy at the best of times, Swiatek went into overdrive at the moment of victory. She fell to her knees, the signature move of so many great champions. But Swiatek doesn’t do inertia and, as she sat on her heels, her fists continued to pump furiously, almost as though her arms were rebelling against the sudden torpor of her legs.
She was quickly up again and, after a consolatory word for Gauff, Swiatek raced to her box. From her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski to her psychologist Daria Abramowicz to her physical trainer Maciej Ryszczuk, she barely knew who to hug first. All sported T-shirts bearing the legend: “You didn’t wake up to be ordinary #Iga”. As recent months have emphasised, and the past fortnight has categorically confirmed, she is anything but that.
Meanwhile, Gauff sat disconsolate in her chair, quietly weeping. Her time will come. Four years ago, the 18-year-old won the junior title in Paris, and her serene progress to this final offered further evidence of her clay-court abilities. Yet Gauff had not faced a player ranked in the top 30 in her previous matches. The gap in quality between the world No 23 and the world’s best was just too great to bridge.
“I didn’t really think about the statistics or record of my opponent going into the match,” said Gauff. “But I think she does a good job of taking the pressure moments and really rising to the occasion, and today she rose to the occasion. I do that pretty well too, but today she was just on another level.”
In truth, she has been on another level for months. As her chief rivals fell by the wayside, tumbling so rapidly that by the time she reached the last-16 she was the only top-10 player left standing, Swiatek remained the one star who could not be dimmed. She dropped just one set over the fortnight, dominating her opponents so completely that even the occasional failure to hold serve left ripples of minor astonishment in its wake.
Against Gauff, Swiatek was equal parts brutal and imperious. Brutal because she went in hard, early and relentlessly on her opponent’s weaknesses, peppering the American’s weaker forehand side with groundstrokes of explosive power and spin, and dealing mercilessly with any serve that fell short. Imperious because even when Gauff managed to keep pace in the baseline exchanges, as she did with growing frequency after a one-sided opening set, she was often reduced to the role of a bystander at her own execution, Swiatek shifting gear to unleash winners of devastating force and precision.
There was a glimmer of hope for Gauff in the sixth game when, having belatedly made an impression on the scoreboard by holding serve to trail 4-1, she reached 30-30 on the Swiatek serve. The Pole responded by hurling herself at a high ball to hammer away a forehand. On the next point, a meaty rally ended with another searing forehand winner. Such was the pattern of the contest.
“She really didn’t give me anything,” said Gauff. “Every time I thought I hit a good ball, it wasn’t. There is a reason why she’s on a winning streak.”
Gauff broke in the opening game of the second set and consolidated her advantage with an impressive service game that began with an ace and ended with a rare forehand winner. Briefly, the 15,000-strong Court Philippe Chatrier crowd was invigorated. But it was to prove a false dawn for the American. Swiatek, who has become so accustomed to dealing with pressure situations over the course of her winning run, broke back immediately before racing into a 5-2 lead.
“It’s not easy to cope with the different atmosphere and the pressure [of a grand slam],” said Swiatek. “I felt the baggage. The hardest thing is not letting yourself think about that and overanalyse, and not letting yourself think about all the numbers and the odds.
“I have been doing that for a few months now, and for sure, two weeks here were harder. But it’s part of the work and I’m getting better and better at it, and that’s also something that I’m proud of.”
With Wimbledon just over three weeks away, Swiatek said she would return home to Warsaw for a few days’ rest before beginning her preparations for the All England Club, where she was the junior champion four years ago. Just turned 21, she could rule the women’s game for years to come.