Inès Zeghloul // Photo credit: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
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1:07 p.m., June 7, 2024
“She’s too strong.” This is simply declared Iga Swiatek’s opponent in the quarter-finals Markéta Vondroušová. Since the start of this edition of Roland-Garros, the number 1 seed has produced demonstration after demonstration. The double title holder faces a strong opponent: Coco Gauff. But who is this woman who dominates tennis?
“Fight until the end. That’s what I do best.” Work and rigor, difficult to talk about anything else with Iga Swiatek. “I don’t really have time to think about anything else, the tournament is my priority. This tournament is even more important than my own birthday,” explains the player. Some even say that the Pole is the new “sacred monster” of tennis.
“She is strong physically and mentally”
It was at the age of 19, at Roland-Garros, that Iga Swiatek won her first Grand Slam title. The Pole comes into the light, and since then, there have been 37 consecutive victories in 2022, the record of the century. She becomes world number 1. The Williams sisters are gone. It is now Iga Swiatek who unleashes the Philippe-Chatrier court.
“She is strong physically and mentally. Since her last years, there have been no great players like that,” said a young supporter. “A desire to destroy opponents which is quite remarkable compared to other women,” adds another.
But to become this sacred monster of world tennis, perhaps he is still missing a little something. “More intimacy, connection with the public. It’s super important to create stars in world tennis,” said a spectator. But not sure that’s what interests him. As a child, the one who entered the field with a helmet screwed on her ears, did not dream of being a great player, but just of being more comfortable with others.