Iga Świątek
Iga Świątek
Country (sports): Poland
Born/Date of Birth: 31 May 2001
Place of Birth: Warsaw, Poland
Residence: Raszyn, Poland
Parents: Tomasz Świątek
Nationality: Polish
Height: 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach: Piotr Sierzputowski
Prize money: US$1,106,808
Iga Świątek (born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She has a career-high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of No. 48 in the world, and is the third-highest ranked teenager behind Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff. She is the reigning champion at the French Open and the first Polish Grand Slam singles champion in history. With her French Open title, she also became the youngest singles champion at the tournament since Rafael Nadal in 2005, and the youngest women's singles champion since Monica Seles in 1992.
Świątek's father Tomasz was an Olympic rower. As a junior, Świątek was the 2018 French Open girls' doubles champion alongside Caty McNally, and the 2018 Wimbledon girls' singles champion. She also led Poland to the Junior Fed Cup crown in 2016 and won a doubles gold medal for Poland at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics with Slovenian Kaja Juvan. Świątek began playing regularly on the WTA Tour in 2019. She was able to break into the top 50 at 17 years old after her first appearance in a WTA final and a fourth round appearance at the French Open, where she was defeated by Simona Halep in a lopsided match. During her French Open title run in 2020, Świątek rebounded to defeat the top-seeded Halep in the same round by a similarly lopsided scoreline and did not drop a set or lose more than five games to any opponent in the singles event.
Świątek has an all-court style of play. She won the WTA Fan Favorite Shot of the Year in 2019 with a drop shot from the baseline, and also finished second to Halep in the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year award that same year.
Early life and background
Iga Świątek was born on 31 May 2001 in Warsaw. Her father is Tomasz Świątek, a rower who competed in the men's quadruple sculls event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She has a sister Agata who is about three years older. Świątek's father wanted his daughters to become competitive athletes, and preferred they take up an individual sport rather than a team sport to have better control of their chances of success. Agata initially started out in swimming, but switched to tennis after she had issues with swimming. Iga followed her sister into tennis because she wanted to beat her and also because she wanted to be more like her. Agata briefly competed on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2013 at about 15 years old, but has since largely stopped playing due to injury troubles. Świątek trained at Mera Warsaw as a 14-year-old before later moving to Legia Warsaw.
Junior career
Świątek reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 as a junior. She began competing in ITF Junior Circuit events in 2015 and won back-to-back low-level Grade 4 titles in April and May while still 13 years old. Before the end of the year, she moved up to Grade 2 events and finished runner-up in both singles and doubles at the Czech Junior Open. Świątek made her junior Grand Slam debut in 2016 at the French Open, reaching the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles. She followed this up with her best junior title to date at the Grade 1 Canadian Open Junior Championships, defeating Olga Danilović in the final.
Świątek had a strong first half of 2017. She won both the singles and doubles titles at the Grade 1 Traralgon Junior International. Although she lost her opening round match at the Australian Open, she partnered with compatriot Maja Chwalińska to make her first final in a Grand Slam event, finishing runner-up in doubles to the North American team of Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine. She then reached her first Grade A singles final at the Trofeo Bonfiglio, losing to Elena Rybakina. Her season came to an end after another quarterfinal at the French Open, after which she had right ankle surgery that kept her out for seven months.
Despite only competing in two Grand Slam tournaments in 2018 and three singles events in total, Świątek finished her junior career with her best season. She returned to the junior tour at the French Open after a full year absence and reached the semifinals in singles, losing to Caty McNally. She fared better in doubles, partnering with McNally to win her first junior Grand Slam title. They defeated the Japanese team of Yuki Naito and Naho Sato in the final. Świątek only played singles at Wimbledon. As an unseeded player due to her absence, she was drawn against top seed Whitney Osuigwe in the first round. After winning that match in three sets, she did not drop another set during the rest of the tournament and won the championship for her only junior Grand Slam singles title. She defeated Leonie Küng in the final.
Professional career
2016–18: Undefeated in seven ITF finals
Świątek began competing on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2016 and played on the circuit through the end of 2018. She won all seven ITF singles finals she reached, ranging from the first four at the $10K to $15K level to one at the $25K level followed up by two at the $60K level. Her first three titles came at 15 years old. The fourth was in February 2018 in her first tournament back from a seven month layoff due to injury. After a $25K title in April, Świątek moved up to higher-level ITF events that spring. Following her junior Wimbledon title in July, she skipped the junior US Open to stay in Europe. During the two weeks of the US Open, she won back-to-back $60K titles at the NEK Ladies Open in Hungary and the Montreux Ladies Open in Switzerland. During the second event, she defeated top seed and world No. 120 Mariana Duque-Mariño. These were Świątek's last two ITF tournaments of the year. With these two titles, Świątek entered the top 200 for the first time at the age of 17, rising from No. 298 to No. 180 in those two weeks.
2019: First WTA final, top 50 debut
Despite never playing on the WTA Tour before 2019, Świątek was able to compete in only tour-level events throughout the year. After being unable to qualify at the Auckland Open, she qualified for her first WTA main draw at the Australian Open. She then defeated No. 82 Ana Bogdan in three sets in her debut match to reach the second round. At her next three tournaments, she was also able to qualify at the Hungarian Ladies Open, but not either of the Premier Mandatory events in March.
Świątek made her first WTA breakthrough at the Ladies Open Lugano in April. With her first direct acceptance into a main draw, she made her first WTA final. During the event, she upset No. 3 seed Viktória Kužmová in the second round for her first top 50 victory. She ultimately finished runner-up to Polona Hercog in three sets. Moreover, an incredible cross-court forehand drop shot she hit against Kristýna Plíšková in the semifinal was voted the 2019 WTA Shot of the Year. With the runner-up, she also made her debut in the top 100 while still 17 years old. Świątek closed out her clay court season with a fourth round appearance at the French Open in her second major. She upset No. 16 Wang Qiang in the second round for her first top 20 victory before losing to defending champion Simona Halep.
Świątek could not repeat her French Open success at the remaining Grand Slam events of the year, losing her opening match at Wimbledon and her second match at the US Open. Her best result in the second half of the season was a third round appearance at the Canadian Open. During the event, she upset No. 18 Caroline Wozniacki before losing to No. 2 Naomi Osaka. With this result, she entered the top 50 for the first time a week later. She missed the rest of the season after the US Open to undergo foot surgery and finished the year at No. 61 in the world.
2020: French Open champion, top 20 debut
Świątek made her return to the WTA Tour at the Australian Open. She matched her best result at a Grand Slam tournament with another fourth-round appearance, this time highlighted by a victory over No. 20 Donna Vekić. She defeated Vekić again at the Qatar Open, her last match win before the WTA Tour was shut down for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Świątek continued her success at the Grand Slam tournaments once the tour resumed. She reached the third round at the US Open, losing to eventual runner-up Victoria Azarenka.
Entering the rescheduled French Open in September, Świątek was ranked No. 54 in the world. Nonetheless, she won the singles event for her maiden WTA title. During the tournament, she defeated 2019 runner-up and world No. 19 Markéta Vondroušová in the opening round. Her biggest upset was a victory in the fourth round over top seed and world No. 2 Simona Halep, who was on a 17-match win streak and was also the heavy favourite to win the title. She only lost three games against Halep a year after winning just one game against her in the same round of the French Open the previous year. Świątek defeated world No. 6 Sofia Kenin in the final to became the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam singles title ever and the lowest-ranked French Open champion in the history of the WTA rankings. She also became the youngest singles champion at the tournament since Rafael Nadal in 2005 and the youngest women's singles champion since Monica Seles in 1992. She won the title without dropping a set or more than five games to any opponent, and the 28 games she lost in total were tied for the second-fewest among French Open singles champions in the Open Era behind only the 20 games Steffi Graf lost in 1988. With the title, Świątek rose to No. 17 in the world. She also played the doubles event, partnering with Nicole Melichar for the first time. The pair reached the semifinals, and also did not drop a set up until their last match.
National representation
Junior competitions
Świątek represented Poland at the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals for 14-and-under girls twice in 2014 and 2015. She won all of her matches in 2014 to lead Poland to a ninth place finish out of 16 teams. The following year, she helped Poland go undefeated in the round robin stage to reach the semifinals. Świątek moved up to the 16-and-under Junior Fed Cup in 2016, where she played alongside Maja Chwalińska and Stefania Rogozińska-Dzik. Poland won the title, defeating the United States 2–1 in the final. Świątek won both of her rubbers in the final tie, defeating Amanda Anisimova in singles before partnering with Chwalińska to defeat Caty McNally and Claire Liu in the decisive doubles rubber. The last event of Świątek's junior career was the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. Although she lost in the quarterfinals in singles to Clara Burel, she partnered with Slovenian Kaja Juvan to win the gold medal in doubles. They defeated Naito and Sato in the gold medal match, who were also Świątek's opponents in the French Open doubles final earlier in the year.
Billie Jean King Cup
Świątek made her senior Billie Jean King Cup debut in 2018 when Poland was in Europe/Africa Zone Group I. To advance out of this group, Poland need to win their round-robin group, a play-off tie against one of the other round robin group winners, and then another play-off tie as part of the separate World Group II Play-off round. They did not win their round-robin group in 2018 or 2019. Świątek won her only singles match in 2018. While she only won one of her three singles matches in 2019, she won both of her doubles matches while partnering with Alicja Rosolska. The following year, the format was changed so that Poland only needed to finish in the top two out of three teams in their round-robin group to reach the promotional play-off. Nonetheless, they won their group and defeated Sweden 2–0 in the play-off to advance to the separate Play-off round. Świątek won all three of her singles matches in the 2020 Europe/Africa Zone Group I round. Overall, Świątek has a 7–3 record at the Billie Jean King Cup, comprising 5–2 in singles and 2–1 in doubles.
Playing style
Świątek has an all-court style of play and incorporates a lot of variety into her game. She plays aggressively, which can lead to high amounts of both winners and unforced errors. She described her own style of play on clay as "a big serve, topspin, and backhand down the line". Świątek aims to come to the net, and has good volleying skills. She also regularly uses the drop shot, and won the 2019 WTA Shot of the Year with a cross-court drop shot from the baseline that landed on the sideline well inside the service box. Her favourite surface is clay, having grown up playing on that surface.
Endorsements
Świątek has been sponsored by Asics since the start of 2020. She was previously sponsored by Nike. Since December 2019 Świątek is endorsed by Red Bull. She is also sponsored by Lexus, providing her with vehicles for personal use; they previously sponsored fellow Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska.
Coaching team
Świątek's primary coach in her early junior years was Michał Kaznowski, who she worked with up to the 2016 French Open. Jolanta Rusin-Krzepota was her physical preparation trainer for roughly four years through the end of the 2019 US Open. Świątek has been coached by Piotr Sierzputowski since 2016. During the time Sierzputowski has been her coach, British former professional tennis player and former Polish Davis Cup coach Nick Brown has also served as a main consultant on occasion. Świątek also works with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz.
