Iga Swiatek Fulfills The Long-Held Hopes of Polish Tennis
For many tennis fans looking at the last eight of the French Open women’s tennis draw, the thought that first came into their heads was “who?” The last eight of the aforementioned draw was bereft of many of the most familiar names in the sport. Absent from the later rounds were Venus and Serena Williams- the two sisters both bowed out early, Venus in the first round and Serena in the second.
Also absent was the reigning world no.1 and defending French Open champion, Ashleigh Barty. Citing an unwillingness to travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided not to defend her crown in Paris. Second seed Karolina Pliskova was defeated early as well. That might have left the top seed, Simona Halep, as the favorite- after all, besides being top seed she had won the Roland Garros title back in 2018.
However, when the fourth round came, Halep found herself not only defeated but obliterated in straight sets, by a score of 6–1, 6–2. The young woman who vanquished her was a virtual unknown prior to that match, but would go on to emerge as a future star of the game. That would be 19 year old Pole Iga Swiatek, who would go on to win the entire tournament, defeating Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the final.
Swiatek’s run at Roland Garros was one of the most dominant by any woman in recent memory, let alone a teenager. Not only did she not lose a single set in seven matches (the first woman to accomplish this feat since Justine Henin in 2007), but she did not lose five games in a single set to boot. Remarkably, not a single one of her seven matches lasted longer than an hour and a half in court time.
To underscore the youth of Swiatek, it should be pointed out that not two years ago, she won the Roland Garros girls’ juniors- in doubles, going on to win the Wimbledon title in singles that same year. Entering Roland Garros, she stood at 54 in the women’s rankings, only the third highest ranked teenager after Americans Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff.
Swiatek’s triumph was not only due to her youth, as there have been Grand Slam champions close to her age in the recent past, such as Japanese phenom Naomi Osaka at the 2018 U.S. Open and Canadian Bianca Andreescu at that same major in 2019. But Swiatek’s triumph was particularly historic in that it marked the first ever Grand Slam tournament won by a male or female tennis player from the country of Poland.
As tennis exploded in popularity across central and Eastern Europe during the latter stages of the 20th century, Poland seemed to be left behind by its neighbors to the south and east. To the South, this was most prominently demonstrated by the success of Yugoslav (of Hungarian descent) Monica Seles, who emerged as the teenage phenomenon of her day by winning her first French Open in 1990 at the age of 17.
Between 1990 and 1993, Seles would go on to win eight Grand Slam tournaments (all before her 20th birthday), seeming to be well on her way to surpassing Slam records set by legends of the game such as Martina Navratilova (one of the first of the great central/Eastern European tennis stars) and Chris Evert. Unfortunately, Seles’ career was derailed by her tragic stabbing by a mentally ill fan in the spring of 1993. Although she would recover enough to eventually win another Grand Slam, the Australian Open in 1996, she would never consistently reach the same level again.
The early 2000s saw an explosion of Russian women onto the tennis scene, taking Grand Slam tournaments by storm. The 2004 French Open was contested by two Russian women, Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva, with Myskina taking home the title to become the first woman from that country to be a Grand Slam champion. And shortly thereafter, 2004’s Wimbledon championships saw the emergence of then-17 year old Maria Sharapova, who shocked the tennis world by defeating Serena Williams in the final. Over the next decade and a half, Sharapova would not only win Grand Slam tournaments, but become a massive international style and pop culture icon as well.
It took until the late 2000s for Poland to even produce players who could be mentioned in the same breath as these heavyweights. The first great hope for the country in tennis were a pair of sisters from Krakow, Agnieszka and Urszula Radwanska, both of whom won Grand Slams at the junior level. Could they be for Polish tennis what Venus and Serena were for the American game?
Sadly, it was not to be. Agnieszka would become a consistent tour performer and fixture in the top 10 of the WTA rankings, topping out at no.2 in the world and winning twenty titles. But she could not replicate her success at the Grand Slams, only making a single final- 2012’s Wimbledon championships, where she fell to Serena Williams. In 2018, dealing with injuries and hoping to start a family, she announced her retirement at age twenty-nine. As for Urszula, her success at the junior level never fully translated to the pros, as she topped out at a career high of world no.29.
Even before reaching her 20th birthday, Swiatek has already done what the Radwanska sisters never could, fulfulling the hopes of Polish tennis fans everywhere. The Radwanska sisters were consistent baseline grinders, whereas Swiatek has the explosiveness to her game that enables a player to not just win Grand Slams, but to dominate them as well. One hopes that her success will inspire a new wave of young players from Poland, both men and women, in the years to come. If this Roland Garros is any indication, her career should last long enough to see a new generation of Polish players grow up watching her win Grand Slams for years to come.
