Dhe Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek won the French Open and with it the first Grand Slam title of her career. The 19-year-old prevailed on Saturday in the final in Paris against the Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin from the United States 6: 4, 6: 1. Never before has a tennis professional from Poland won the title in the women’s or men’s competition in one of the four most important tournaments. For their win, Swiatek receives prize money of 1.6 million euros, while Kenin receives 850,500 euros.
The world ranking 54. Swiatek became the first player since Belgian Justine Henin to win the Roland Garros triumph in 2007 without losing a set. When Swiatek used her first match ball with a cracking forehand after 1:24 hours on the Philippe Chatrier court, she went down on her knees and clutched her racket with both hands. She shook her head, covered her eyes and mouth and finally hopped across the square with her arms raised and thanked the few allowed spectators on center court. “I don’t know what’s happening. I’m so happy, it’s just overwhelming, “said Swiatek in an interview on the pitch before she had to break it off later, overwhelmed by her emotions.
The teenager from Warsaw played carefree in the past few weeks and impressed with his aggressive and fearless style of play from the first round. Polish President Andrzej Duda and Bayern Munich’s goal-scorer Robert Lewandowski congratulated them on reaching the finals. Immediately afterwards Duda congratulated on Twitter: “Big thanks and congratulations to Iga Swiatek! A historic day for Poland, Polish sport and Polish tennis. Bravo!”
A kiss for the cup: Iga Swiatek wins the French Open.
:
Image: Reuters
In the final against the world number six Kenin, Swiatek managed to get off to a turbo start again. She quickly took the lead 3-0, dominated the rallies and won the first round after 48 minutes. In the second set, Kenin had to seek treatment and took a three-minute medical break. Apparently not in full possession of her powers, the 21-year-old no longer had enough to oppose her opponent, so that Swiatek crowned her sensational run through the tournament with the title and was allowed to raise the silver trophy at 4:50 p.m.
The native of Warsaw graduated from high school this spring, and since then she has devoted herself entirely to her tennis career. She comes from a family of athletes: her father Tomasz Swiatek represented the Polish national team as a rower at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988. It was also her father who came up with the idea of tennis for his daughters. “My sister Agata, who was three years older than me, played first. I watched it and envied her ”, Iga Swiatek recalled recently in an interview with the“ Gazeta Wyborcza ”.
While the sister was training, she and her father hit balls back and forth on the edge of the tennis court. Later, her father was always the one who encouraged her to train, even if she often didn’t feel like it as a child, the French Open winner recently told the YouTube portal “Kanal Sportowy”. When the Polish national anthem rang out on Saturday afternoon and Swiatek’s eyes shone over the mouth and nose protection, the efforts were forgotten.
.
