Polish world number one Iga Swiatek clinched her fourth grand slam title at Roland Garros earlier this month, and her third at the French Open in four attempts. Swiatek has established herself as the finest player on the WTA tour, the standard for the rest of the players to beat. Her run at Roland Garros was typically dominant, as the combination of her fierce front-foot tennis and defensive capability outmatched all her opponents.
However, Swiatek’s run at this year’s French Open has received criticism from detractors, since she avoided her two largest threats, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina. Sabalenka won the Australian Open earlier this year, while Rybakina has enjoyed a strong year after becoming champion at Wimbledon in 2022. In the lead-up to Roland Garros, both players had dealt the number one losses, Rybakina earning a walkover in the quarterfinal in Rome and Sabalenka beating her at the final in Madrid.
However, Rybakina withdrew from the tournament in the early stages, and world number two Sabalenka reached the semifinals but lost to Karolina Muchova. As a result, the highest ranked player Swiatek had to face was American rising star Coco Gauff. Nevertheless, the dominance Swiatek showed throughout the tournament might indicate that the world number one would have pulled through for the win on her favourite surface regardless of her opposition.
Former men’s number one and 8-time grand slam champion Jimmy Connors came out in defence of the Pole, stating how even the greatest champions of tennis don’t always face their biggest rivals enroute to lifting trophies. Speaking on his podcast, Advantage Connors, the American legend said: “I’m sure the tournament would’ve liked that. The dream final between Sabalenka and Iga, the match that everybody expected and wanted to have. But like I said you can call it luck or whatever, if you go back Federer didn’t make it to too many finals against Nadal. Even Djokovic and Nadal didn’t make it against it too many finals either.”
“So that happens, she kinda didn’t have to play those two players (Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka), who bubbled up to become the biggest rivals on tour this year,” continued Connors.
Rybakina has enjoyed a very successful year against Swiatek, even outside of the walkover in Rome. At two of the year’s biggest hard court events, the Australian Open and Indian Wells, the Kazakhstani player beat the world number one without dropping any sets. Even on Swiatek’s favourite surface, she might have favoured her chances as she has gone from strength to strength this year.
Going back to the US Open which Swiatek won last year, she has split her 4 meetings with Sabalenka, winning that encounter in New York and then in Stuttgart this year, but losing at the Tour Finals in Texas and Madrid in the clay court swing.
These three players have established themselves as the top three in the ranking, and the three best players on tour since the retirement of Ash Barty, enjoying the most successful period of their careers so far. However, Connors was excited at the prospect of upcoming players such as Czech Muchova making waves in the tennis world.
“I’m not taking anything away from Muchova or from Iga. Muchova did give her a tough final and all of a sudden now there’s a rise of another challenger,” said the American. “I like how anytime there’s new youth and new names coming up. All that does is hopefully create more interest in tennis and the game.”
Eyes will turn to Wimbledon next, where Sabalenka reached the semifinals in 2021 before being barred to play in 2022, the tournament which Rybakina won. On Swiatek’s weakest surface, both players will be looking to add to their solitary grand slam total, while Swiatek will no doubt be hungry for a slam title on the only surface which has evaded her.
