Current stats that show Swiatek is up there with some of the greats
The statistics suggest that Iga Swiatek’s winning run in 2022 is right up there with some of the greatest to ever play the game – and shehas now equalled the achievements of more legends
Iga Swiatek signing autographs (© AI / Reuters / Panoramic)
Iga Swiatek is in some impressive company these days. World No 1 since Ash Barty’s shock retirement, she is enjoying a winning streak that stretches back to February.
Her Roland-Garros semi-final win over Daria Kasatkina, 6-2, 6-1, was her 34th in a row, equalling the second-best winning run in the women’s game this millennium, along with Serena Williams in 2013. Her win in the final took her level top of the table, with Venus Williams in the year 2000.
Her performance in Paris has been crushingly dominant. Those with long memories might be thinking of another champion who asserted herself to a huge degree – Justine Henin, who won her titles in 2006 and 2007 without dropping a set. She did, however, drop 39 and 38 games respectively in those Slam-winning runs.
33 games in 15 sets released by Swiatek
Swiatek, in comparison, dropped 33 games as she picked up the trophy – across 15 sets. Her average set score is 6-2. (It makes it even more admirable that Qinwen Zheng took a set off her, 7-6 in a tiebreak.)
It was one thing to come almost from nowhere for her first Slam title on the terre battue, back in 2020. That was a year when the French Open was scheduled in the autumn due to the coronavirus pandemic; the playing conditions were rather different and with no defending champion (Barty – who opted not to travel) the tournament was perfect for an outsider to scythe through the draw.
That’s what Swiatek did; ranked world No 54 at the start of the fortnight, she didn’t drop a set and didn’t lose more than five games in a single match – most memorably taking out top seed Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth round.
Winning as the top seed
Winning a title with all the attention and expectation on her is entirely different. She has some fine examples to imitate, though; Simona Halep (in 2018) and Serena Williams (in 2013 and 2015) both won Roland-Garros as world No 1 and top seed in the last ten years.
There were also some cautionary tales from Paris for her to bear in mind. In 1989, defending champion and top seed Steffi Graf had won the previous five Grand Slam finals, and lost to 17-year-old Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. In 1997, world No 1 Martina Hingis was on a winning streak of 35 matches when she lost to ninth seed Iga Majori in the final. And in 2016, defending champion and top seed Serena Williams fell in straight sets to Garbiñe Muguruza, who dropped only one set during the tournament.
Reaching the top of the game was rather thrust upon Swiatek after Barty’s departure. She’s spent the last three months proving just how good she is. She has now won the Roland-Garros title for a second time and showed she is genuinely the best in the world.
