Here’s our report on Iga Swiatek’s crushing win.
And a preview of the men’s final where history of some sort awaits.
And so Iga Swiatek receives the Suzanne Lenglen trophy, the first coming only in October 2020, and she’s currently untouchable as the world’s best player. The Polish anthem rings out, and she seems to do her best not to cry.
[To Coco Gauff] First if all I want to congratulate you, I see you are improving every week, you will find it and you will be there. I am pretty sure of that. I want to thank my team. I am pretty happy as every piece has come together. I want to thank my dad for everything and my sister. Two years ago winning this was amazing. I feel i worked hard, and the pressure was big. I’d love to be back, and oh my god. It seems like I need some more experience of this. I want to say something to Ukraine, to stay strong, as the war is still there.
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Mats Wilander will be be doing the presentation, he won this competition as a 17-year-old in 1982, the first of three French Opens and seven grand slams. Coco Gauff gets a huge roar as she goes to collect the losers’ plate for being runner-up. She had a fine tournament, not dropping a set until now, but came up against the world’s best in prime form.
This is a first time for me so let’s try to get through this. Well done to Iga, you totally deserve this. Maube we can meet in another final and I can get a win on you one day. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get this one today, hopefully this is the first final of many.
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As French TV directors love to do, there are some moody, arty shots of victor and loser, Swiatek’s burst of joy in slo-mo, Coco’s dejection in soft focus. In the background, some French house, the type Cassius and others used to knock out, pumps as the line judges and ball kids take their part in the ceremony. The Suzanne Lenglen trophy is brought out by a young garçon, as is a cheque for $2m.
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Gauff looks stunned, perhaps a little tearful. That went past in a flash, and she was never given a chance to take part in the match, both by Swiatek and then by, it has to be suggested, her own nerves.
That’s 35 wins in a row, six titles in a row, too much for Gauff to deal with. Swiatek joins her friends, coaches and family in the crowd.
35-0 🏆#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Tq7u72NWH8
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 4, 2022
Swiatek wins the French Open, beating Gauff 6-1 6-3
A decent backhand guides Swiatek to 15-0, with Gauff still fighting back and hard. Then Gauff lobs an unlikely winner to level at 15-15. Good work at the net forces Gauff to slide, and it’s 30-15. There is thunder in the Parisian sky. And soon, a roar as Swiatek lands herself two championship points. The first is taken as Gauff misses her return. Swiatek is champion for a second time.
Swiatek 6-1 5-3 Gauff*
Swiatek will have to serve this out. A Gauff forehand error wipes away the good work done by a backhand for 15-15. Then comes another one into the net for 15-30. A squawk of defiance as Gauff converts for 30-30, then another squawk as an ace arrows home. Then it’s deuce as Swiatek clatters a brutal serve home. Signs of life as Swiatek hits the net cord. and then Gauff tempts Swiatek into an error and takes the game.
It may not have long to go here, but plenty of fun to be found here each week.
*Swiatek 6-1 5-2 Gauff
Relentless now from Swiatek, who delivers two overheads and Gauff cannot keep the second in. But then comes a nervy low backhand, and it’s 15-30. A glimmer, but no, Gauff goes for broke and misses her attempt at a winner. And then, with the court gaping, Gauff nets. That was a big miss, and one punished by a backhand that flies down the line. Just over an hour played and Swiatek is a game away from victory.
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Swiatek 6-1 4-2 Gauff*
Uh oh, two schoolgirl errors and it’s 0-30. “C’mon,” says Gauff after a decent serve yields better results. But then, from a good second serve, Swiatek steps forward and and thumps home for two break points. The first is gobbled up by a crashing overhead Gauff tries her best to return but can’t keep the ball in.
Swiatek* 6-1 3-2 Gauff
Swiatek smells blood now, beginning her service game with a thumping winner, and then another for 30-0. Then a big serve can’t be returned, and then, from mid-court, a crashing forehand winner. Swiatek edges ahead and suddenly has all the momentum.
Swiatek 6-1 2-2 Gauff*
Thunderstorms in the Parisian skies, and some confusion over what will happen with the roof. Gauff makes a couple of errors to go 0-30 down but then makes a mistake with a forehand, then comes a double fault and two break points. Gauff then attempts a forehand with predictable results. A break back.
*Swiatek 6-1 1-2 Gauff
Better from Swiatek, as she speeds around the court to set herself off to a head start of 30-0. Only for a disguised drop shot to catch her out. But then Gauff is tempted into overcooking another forehand, before Swiatek sweeps a winner home. An important hold for Swiatek.
Swiatek 6-1 0-2 Gauff*
Coco rising, and she serves two beauties to go 30-0 up. Swiatek wins the next rally by coming to the net but then can’t get a backhand over. The Pole looks annoyed. Then Gauff nets, only to plonk an overhead down and out of reach to take the game and hold her serve.
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*Swiatek 6-1 0-1 Gauff
Hello there! A skidding serve levels the opening game of the second set at 15-15, but then comes a missed backhand, on the wrong side of the line. Swiatek looks a bit wobbly on her backhand as he gives up two break points. And even wilder on her forehand to give up the first, it goes miles wide. Game on.
Swiatek takes the first set 6-1
Gauff struggle again on her serve, and Swiatek has two set points. The first is saved by a fine shot at the end of a good rally. But then, she is temped into trying to take on too risky a shot and it drifts out. Just as Gauff looks to play herself back in she makes a series of errors and Swiatek has made far far fewer.
Iga on point 💯#RolandGarros | @iga_swiatek pic.twitter.com/IiWkRVW5GJ
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 4, 2022
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*Swiatek 5-1 Gauff
Does Gauff look the stronger now? Certainly so on the backhand, and she gets to 30-15 up, only to be foxed by a fine Swiatek serve. Then comes a forehand, whipped back from whence it came for 40-30. Then, with Gauff showing further sign of improvement, a walloping winner, right on the angle of takes the game for Swiatek.
Swiatek 4-1 Gauff*
New determination from Gauff as he glides to 30-0 up, only for, yes, the forehand, to let her down. Then comes a double fault. Oh dear. Ana Ivanovic is sighted in the crowd with Manchester United legend Bastian Schweinsteiger as Gauff gets to 40-30, only to make an error for it to go to deuce. Gauff punches down one of those backhands to take an advantage, then forces an error from Swiatek. A punch of the air and the teenager is on the board.
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*Swiatek 4-0 Gauff
Ominously for Gauff, the Swiatek serve is clicking, and the forehand is being targeted. But at 40-15 down, Gauff nails one, it’s unreachable. Still, there’s a mountain to climb in this set. It’s racing by and away from Gauff.
Swiatek 3-0 Gauff*
A second break. The Polish player smells blood on the Gauff serve and is charging forward on to it. Gauff is tempted into backhand hits that go into the net, and a break point is claimed when Swiatek shows how it’s done. But two good serves take us to deuce. Better, only to be ruined by a forehand error. That’s saved by a crashing shot that forces Swiatek into missing a volley. Then comes a skipping serve to hand Gauff game point. And yet her forehand lets her down once more. A fourth break point is offered up. “Iga, Iga,” sing the crowd but a backhand rescues Gauff, who crashes one home. That’s the shot that will keep her in this match. The forehand lets her down - again - and she can’t keep in her return of a Swiatek shot to the back of the court. And again, on the fifth time of asking, another forehand miss.
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*Swiatek 2-0 Gauff
Swiatek’s serve does not start with a bang, either, and she nets for 15-15. Then Gauff blasts back a backhand winner for 15-30. Swiatek then wins a rally at the net, reading Gauff’s baseline scrambling very well. Then Gauff overhits, before rescuing deuce with a crashing winner down the line. Then comes the first ace of the match, then her next serve presents her with chance to take the game and hold her service.
Swiatek 1-0 Gauff*
Here we go in Parjs, with Gauff to serve first, having taken the honour. The American’s first shot rattles off the net, then she double faults for 0-30. Nervous serving here, but her second serve tempts Swiatek into overhitting for 15-30. Some pillock does that awful “bu-bu-bu-bo-bo-bo” call-and-response nonsense, and then Gauff makes a mistake, coughing up two break points. Well done, idiot. Swiatek takes the first point with a sweeping backhand.
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They’re knocking up, and calmly so. No wind in Philippe Chatrier, we are told, but who does that favour? The bigger server perhaps, making it Swiatek. Gauff is the youngest finalist in any slam since Sharpova in 2004.
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The players take to the court, Coco Gauff coming out first to plenty of cheers. Swiatek’s applause may be a little louder. Mat Wilander on the Eurosport broadcast suggests Gauff should concentrate on tennis, rather than “life”, which could be read as a kick against her activism. It certainly felt like that.
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It’s the men’s final tomorrow, and Nadal is going for the decimocuarto, his 14th, though perhaps a bit luckily after Sasha Zverev’s injury yesterday. Casper Ruud took his time to beat Marin Cilic but eventually got the job done.
The hype is building up in Paris, and so is the heat. It’s 28 degrees there.
🔜 @iga_swiatek 🆚 @CocoGauff
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 4, 2022
It all comes down to this at #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/mNLACi96Wt
Swiatek won this title in 2020, the Roland Garros event delayed until October that year by the pandemic. That was her first ever tour title, she’s added seven since, five this year.
Some Swiatek quotes via the Roland Garros official site.
“Being able to be in the final again, it’s great, especially when I didn’t know actually how I’m gonna play here after so many tournaments that I played,” said Swiatek, who is looking to become the first woman to collect six consecutive titles since Justine Henin in 2007-08 this weekend.
“It seemed kind of obvious for me that the streak may come to an end soon. So I just wanted to take it step by step. I didn’t have any exact goals on this tournament. Just seeing how my game is developing every match, it’s something that’s giving me a lot of hope, and I’m just proud of myself.”
Caira Conner profiled Coco Gauff, a young athlete looking way beyond the end of her racquet.
She is among a burgeoning cohort of athletes who use time in front of reporters to speak up on issues that have little to do with the racquets or balls in their hands. In tennis, a sport where players are perhaps more likely to publicly eschew the complexities of social consciousness for platitudes on hard work, Gauff is clear on her choice: “I’m a human first.”
“Since I was younger, my dad told me I could change the world with my racquet,” said Gauff, who cited LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, Naomi Osaka and Billie Jean King among her role models in athlete-activism. “He didn’t mean that by like just playing tennis. He meant speaking out on issues like this. The first thing my dad said to me after I got off court, I’m proud of you and I love what you wrote on the camera.”
Tumaini Carayol deep-dove into Iga Swiatek.
Swiatek’s 34-match winning streak is remarkable in itself, the joint second-highest of the 21st century alongside Serena Williams and one behind Venus Williams’s count of 35 in 2000. While the others faced more difficult rivals, the circumstances are particularly awkward given its timing. Arriving at the French Open with all her 28 wins coming at WTA tournaments seemed like such an extra burden that some believed a loss in Rome might have helped her manage the pressure.
As she has navigated the draw, Swiatek has handled the occasion in different ways. She has talked about the value of maintaining low expectations, taking things day by day, even though her ambitions make it so difficult. She has been frank about the possible outcomes here, including the fact that losing is an option that should be prepared for, one that would not be a tragedy.
Preamble
Quite the final we have on Philippe Chatrier today, a battle between an irresistible force in Iga Swiatek and irresistible charm in Coco Gauff. It’s also a battle between two members of the younger generation on the women’s tour. Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, while Gauff is still just 18, having charmed the tennis world in 2018 with her Wimbledon run. It’s her first grand slam final, though she has also reached the women’s doubles final this year at Roland Garros. To land the French title, Gauff must beat a player on a 34-match winning streak, going for a sixth title in succession, and therefore upset the odds, though she has yet to drop a set this year in Paris. This could be a classic, and three sets of tennis must be expected.
We start at 2pm UK time.
