Iga Swiatek retains his title after the suspense

Iga Swiatek had already lifted the Suzanne-Lenglen Cup twice: in 2020, then last year. However, his reunion with the trophy did not go quite as planned. As the Pole hoisted it up and waved it, the top part of it flew off and fell… Like a nod to the final she had just won on Saturday 10 June.

This match against the Czech Karolina Muchova (43^e world player), Iga Swiatek initially seemed to have it under control, before stumbling and losing a set en route. But she finally emerged victorious: 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, in 2 h 46 min.

At only 22 years old, the world number 1 wins her third title at Roland-Garros, her fourth in Grand Slam (with the US Open in 2022). “The relationship she has with the tournament and the public here comes into its own, year after year, and you can imagine seeing her lift the trophy many more times.”reacted Amélie Mauresmo, director of the French Open, after the meeting.

The fact remains that the native of Warsaw, who had flown over her previous six matches without losing a set and spent only 7 h 41 min on the courts before this Saturday, this time felt the ocher of her Parisian garden tremble under her feet.

A disappointing then breathtaking final

Not as imperial as at the start of her fortnight, she was able to count on her usual solidity to pocket the first set quite easily (6-2) against a dangerous but too imprecise Karolina Muchova – fourteen unforced errors in the first set – and, perhaps also, overtaken by the stakes of a first Grand Slam final.

After an hour of play, the scoreboard showed 6-2, 3-0 in favor of Iga Swiatek. The sentence seemed on the verge of falling. The varied game of the Czech, who had cut the legs so much and disrupted the powerful strikes of Aryna Sabalenka in the previous round, was no match for the consistency of the Pole. The stands, already sparsely filled, began to empty. The rare “Come on Iga” Or “Go Karo” were even more discreet.

It was then that Karolina Muchova, who had already come from nowhere in the semi-finals against the top seed^oh 2 – trailing 2-5 in the third set, she saved a match point –, repeated a magic trick and an unexpected hold-up to reverse the course of the match. She also signed the point of the game with a serve and volley sequence, concluded with a backhand volley in extension, back to the net. On the ground, she lost her racket. And it was she, one point later, who pocketed the second set. What until then looked more like a trivial match finally took on the appearance of a final, with the unforced errors and the gloomy atmosphere giving way to good play and suspense.

Trailing twice from a break, and with her back to the wall when she had to save a break point at 4-4, Iga Swiatek spoke about her experience, each time managing to pick up by taking more initiative. “I just tried to stay calm, not think about the score anymore and play more instinctively,” she explained after the game. Karolina Muchova, who had never passed the third round at Roland-Garros, ended up cracking, before losing, in the next game, on a double fault.

The Polish woman could then squat down, her head in her hands, in tears. “She dropped everything, we see that she had to draw, noted Amélie Mauresmo. It was a great show, it was strong of Karolina to be able to get back into the game. »

“A beginning of parallel” with Rafael Nadal

As soon as the match point passed, the fight had given way to emotion on the Philippe-Chatrier court. Karolina Muchova, first, collapsed when speaking. “When I look at these people [sa team]I feel like the winner”, she said with a trembling voice to thank her clan. The player has come a long way: she, who was not spared by injuries, had to leave the wheelchair tournament last year after spraining her ankle in the third round.

Then it was up to Iga Swiatek, still with her cap screwed on her head but her eyes reddened by tears, to express how much the Porte d’Auteuil is a special place for her. “I say it every year but it’s not the performance in itself that counts, I love being here, it’s my favorite place on the circuit. »

In a press conference, the world number one returned to each of her three coronations at the French Open: “In 2020, it was special because there was no public [l’édition s’était déroulée en octobre et à huis clos en raison du Covid-19]. Last year’s victory showed me that the first time was not just luck. Today was tougher because I had to deal with the pressure and the injuries. »

Arrived as title holder and undisputed queen of the WTA circuit, she did not however present all the guarantees, in particular physical. A week before the Parisian Grand Slam, she had to give up during her quarter-final in Rome, due to pain in her right thigh. Earlier in the year, in March, she had to forfeit the tournament in Miami (United States), affected in the ribs. His unchallenged reign of 2022 was beginning to be challenged by Aryna Sabalenka and Kazake Elena Rybakina (4ᵉ).

“At the start of the season, I felt like I had to play better as world number one and it was not easy to have fun.explained Iga Swiatek to the World and a handful of other media after its title. At Roland-Garros, I feel like I have to win. It’s an accomplishment for me to be able to stay consistent with all that pressure. »

If we cannot yet speak of a mistress of the place like Rafael Nadal, fourteen times winner at Roland-Garros and absent this year for the first time since 2005, the young Pole is starting to take her ease on Parisian clay. And Amélie Mauresmo to recognize: “There is still a long way to go between three and fourteen titles, but there is the beginning of a parallel. »