Iga Swiatek won this match pic.twitter.com/1XfNrNdwz8
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 29, 2024
Aside from their shared homeland, Iga Swiatek and Aga Radwanska may seem to have little in common, tennis-wise. Radwanska was known as The Magician (and sometimes, The Ninja), but after yesterday's escape from what appeared to be certain defeat, it appears that Swiatek may have out-tricked The Magician herself.
I had a late morning appointment, and expected to watch Swiatek's match against Naomi Osaka earlier in the morning. But the rain in Paris delayed the match and ruined my viewing plans; I saw a little of the first set, and then I had to leave. When my appointment was over, I checked my phone, and the defending champion was down 0-3 in the third set. Naturally, traffic was backed up like crazy, and it took me a while to get home. I tuned in just as Osaka had a match point.
Something told me that the match wasn't really over--it just looked like it was. And sure enough, Iga the Illusionist went from being down 0-3 to being down 2-5 to saving a match point, breaking Osaka, holding for 5-all, breaking Osaka again, and successfully serving for the match.
Later, I watched the entire match, and Osaka was so impressive--and on her least favorite surface. Throughout most of the three-hour match, she went about flummoxing the world number 1 in great style. We know that it can be done--Sabalenka can do it, Rybakina can do it, Krejcikova can do it, and Ostapenko can really do it. But we don't expect anyone to do it so forcefully on clay, especially when that someone isn't too fond of clay courts.
My main takeaway from this match is that Swiatek's mental strength is a thing to behold. (Radwanska once said that hiring a mental coach was a sign of weakness. Well, Swiatek not only hired sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz, Abramowicz travels all over the world with her--seems like a sign of strength to me.)
Now that I've discussed the illusionist skills of the world number 1, here's some old-school Polish magic from ten years ago:
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