The champion lost a set for the first time in this tournament but she knew how to drag herself out of a dangerous placeThe man holding the camera leaned in towards Iga Swiatek. The man holding the pen held it out to her. The new French Open champion thought for a while about how to encapsulate her torrent of thoughts and emotions into a little glass square around the size of a Pop Tart. Eventually she scrawled a number – #4, for her fourth grand slam title – and a single word. “Surréel”.And it really was surreal, or at least as about as surreal as it can ever be watching a habitual major champion win another major. For if the...
World No 1’s skill and power are awe-inspiring, but her mental-health focus is perhaps the most important part of her gamePredicting the future is a business best left for gamblers and fools. But here is one regardless. Shortly after 1pm on Tuesday, Iga Swiatek will hit a bullwhip forehand with such violence and beauty it will make the Centre Court crowd gasp and purr. And before too long the wider British sporting public will also grasp what the tennis world knows already: the 21-year-old Pole is a generational talent heading for multiple grand slams.Swiatek’s movement is sublime, her power obvious. The US Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe, has even compared the venom on her groundstrokes favourably with those of Serena...
The youngest American grand slam finalist since Serena Williams is one win away from a breakthrough major championship that’s been years in the makingOn Thursday afternoon, Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff defeated Italy’s Martina Trevisan in straight sets in the French Open semi-finals. In doing so, she racked up several superlatives, becoming, most notably, the youngest grand slam finalist in almost 20 years and the youngest American to reach a major final since her idol, Serena Williams, collected the first of her 23 grand slam titles at the 1999 US Open.Gauff advanced to Saturday’s final against Poland’s Iga Świątek, the in-form world No 1 and winner of 34 straight matches, with even bigger history in the offing. But the development is hardly...