Student of the game
Iga Swiatek is a national hero in Poland after her French Open victory, but the worldly teenager is not yearning for the spotlight. Simon Briggs reports.
‘She has broad horizons,” says Iga Swiatek, the uncannily mature 19-year-oldwhowonthe recent French Open. “Is that the right phrase? I’m sorry, Ihaven’t spoken English for awhile.”
It is absolutely the right phrase, I reply. And even though she is using it to describe one of her best friends— a talented percussionistwho is training for an orchestral career—“broad horizons” would be a good description of Swiatek’sowncharacter.
Unusually for a 19-year-old tennis champion, she has such a variety of interests that, until only a fewweeks ago, she had been weighing upthe merits of four different university degrees: maths, music, psychotherapy and physiotherapy.
Now, after the win at Roland Garros catapulted her world ranking from 54 to 17, Swiatek has finally accepted that tennis is her vocation. But that has not quenched her thirst toknowmore about the world.
While serving out amini Covid-19 quarantine recently, she started readingupon European politics.
“I decided to stayhomefor a fewdays,” Swiatek says. “I metsomeone(in fact, the Polish president Andrzej Duda) whotested positive for Covid-19, but it wasonly for 15 seconds and he was wearing amask and gloves.
“Anyway, I thought Iwould use the time to learn somethingnewabout politics and social issues. I spend somanyhours on court, and rightnowwhenidon’t have school, I amjust trying to find outmoreabout what’s going on in Europe.
“Wheni amabroad, it’s hard to beon top of what is happening in Poland.”
While Swiatek finds outmoreabout Poland, Poland has gone gaga for Iga. She is the first Pole of either gender to win a slam, which is whydudacalled her into Warsaw’s parliament building to award the Gold Cross of Merit.
“The country went completely crazy,” says Wojtek Fibak, whosestatus as a top-10 player in the 1970s makeshimone of only two previous significant tennis stars (the other being 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska) to have emerged from Poland since Worldwar II.
“During the second weekof Roland Garros, I probably gave 100 interviews to all the radios andtvand internet platforms. There weretv crews standing in front ofmyhouse.
“It’s such a big deal for a Polish player to finally win a slam,” says Fibak. “I don’t think Iga will quite overtake [Bayern Munich striker] Robert Lewandowski in terms of sponsors, but she will be amajor star— our second-biggest sporting ambassador.
“And she is an interesting character, too; someone with an intellectual side, someone whoreads books, which isn’t thatcommonin tennis. It goes toshowthat you need character in this sport.”
Instant fame can be disconcerting. Like her friendnaomiosaka, Swiatek acknowledges that she is an introvert.
“It is hard formeto trust people,” she says. But she adds that, since returning to herwarsaw suburb of Raszyn, she has mostly managedto stay out of the public eye. Even her journey homefrom Pariswaslow-key, a private plane landing at an empty airport at midnight.
The only head-swellingmomentwas that meeting with Duda.
Otherwise, the ever-present threat of Covid19 has helped to keep things calm. Just as it limited the crowd to only a smattering of fans whenswiatek beat Sofia Kenin in straight sets to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. Amazingly, she lost only 23 games in the entire tournament.
“People in Poland are aware I need time for myself,” Swiatek says. “Theyknowi can’t be in the spotlight all the time. I think I amdoing a good job adjusting. Daria [Abramowicz, her sports psychologist] was kind of proud.
“Fortunately, I have a group of friends I trust. I’veknownthem since Iwas 14 and going to middle-school, back before Iwas famous.
“They are also 19 now, making important decisions about their future. Wedid talk about what happened in Paris— it was probably the first time they were interested in tennis— but wealso talked about what they are doing. One is amusician, another is going to university to study physiotherapy.”
Is this really a 19-year-old speaking? It can be hard to credit. Perhaps the sporting experience oftomasz Swiatek— a former Olympic rowerwhomfibak describes as “very stern”— has helped his daughter stay so balanced.
Whatever the explanation, Iga displays a level of engagement and curiosity that is rarely found in the locker room, with honourable exceptions such as Osaka and the evenmore precocious Coco Gauff.
Swiatek’s empathetic characterwas highlighted in August, whenshe appeared on the popular Polish interviewshowmyfirst Time. Asked whoseshoes she would like to walk in for aday, she did not offer thenameof another celebrity, like everyone else. Instead, she replied: “Someone withmanyproblems, to learn something [and] look at the world from adifferent perspective.”
That is Swiatek in a sentence. The quiet girl at schoolwhoobserves everything around her with awatchful eye.
Thesameis true of her choice of tennis idol: Rafael Nadal. As a youngster with somany interests, she barely followed the professional gameuntil her teens. But then she settled on Nadal as her role model— history’s greatest exponent of clay-court tennis— andimitated himas closely as possible. She could hardly have paid better tribute than by winning Roland Garros at her second attempt.
“Like the Spaniards, Iga has grown upon clay courts,” says Nick Brown, the experienced
British coachwhohas acted as amentor since he guided Swiatek’s successful junior Wimbledon campaign in 2018.
“She plays with a lot of topspin, and has a dominating forehand— it’s quite unorthodox, but with somuchpop in the wrist action. She was blessed with her father’s broad shoulders, too, and that combination of technique and power can be irresistible, a little like a young Lindsay Davenport.”
Neither has Swiatek’s ambition been sated by her first taste of success. At her victorious press conference in Paris, she identified the Big Three of the men’sgameas the players she would like to emulate.
“What women’s tennis is struggling with [is that] weare not as consistent as Rafa, Roger and Novak,” Swiatek said. “My goal is to do that.”
Fibak agrees she is good enough to create herowndynasty, particularly at Roland Garros.
“Last year Iwatched Iga play Simona Halep in the fourth round of the French Open,” he said. “She lost 6-1, 6-0, but I could see therewas something special about her. Thewayshe moved. Thewayshe went for the lines. Her heavy topspin, which you normally seemore in the men’s game.
“This year, they played again in the fourth round. Andthis time, Igawon6-1, 6-2. Everything that just missed the line last year, wason the line this year.
“More and more, I amthinking that Halep is going to be the Salieri of clay-court tennis. And Iga is going to be Mozart.”
— Telegraph Groupuk