It’s Swiatek reveals she wanted to find something productive where she could waste her energy and that’s what led to her taking up tennis. Swiatek, 21, started playing tennis when she was around six or seven. 15 years later, Swiatek is ranked at No 1 and considered the best player in women’s tennis.
I always had a lot of energy. So I needed something to kind of waste it on. But it wasn’t a waste,” Swiatek told TIME. Before tennis, Swiatek also tried swimming – but she didn’t like the sport at all. Also, Swiatek tried herself in football.
But Swiatek – who is an individualist and a perfectionist – chose tennis because that’s where she was dependent only on herself. “I’m an individualist. I want to have full control. It would be annoying for me if I didn’t,” Swiatek said.
Swiatek on how Roland Garros inspired her to become a tennis pro
In 2016, Swiatek competed in the French Open girls’ singles event. When Swiatek arrived at one of the most iconic tennis venues, that’s when she really told herself she wanted to return to Roland Garros one day as a pro.
“It’s basically the place where I chose that I want to be a tennis player. I saw all these courts and tennis superstars just passing by. It just struck me that, ‘Wow, maybe I have a chance to be there in the future and to live this life,'” Swiatek said.
Four years later, Swiatek became a Grand Slam champion at Roland Garros. In 2020, Swiatek won the French Open title to become a Grand Slam champion at the age of 19. Last year, Swiatek captured her second French Open title.
This year, there is no doubt that Swiatek will again be the top favorite to win it all at the French Open. It remains to be seen if Swiatek can defend her French Open title this year.
Carlos Alcaraz qualified for the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open 2023. The Spaniard suffered for a set and a half, complained to the team about him, but never lost sight of his goal. Emil Ruusuvuori literally dominated the first set, as the numbers testify.
Her serve turned out to be flawless: 11/11 with her first serve and only two points lost with her second serve. He did the same in response by breaking Alcaraz on two occasions: the first in the fourth game taking advantage of the bad forehand sent under the net by the Spaniard; the second on 5-2.
In the second set, both held serve without problems until 2-3. It is here that Alcaraz smelled blood and built the foundations to complete the comeback. The Spaniard canceled five break points and in the following game he snatched the serve from the Finn for the first time.
Closed the second set of the game without experiencing dangerous ups and downs, Alcaraz has completely changed pace and left only two games to the 24-year-old from Helsinki. The match ended with a score of 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in favor of the Spaniard.
Victories also for Holger Rune and Alexander Zverev, out Casper Ruud. In a match without a break, Grigor Dimitrov made the difference and raised the level in the two decisive tie-breaks played against Gregoire Barrere. In the second the outcome was never in question, but in the first the Bulgarian had to cancel a set point.
Dimitrov will be Alcaraz’s next opponent. Andrey Rublev won the super challenge with Stan Wawrinka on Manolo Santana Stadium with a score of 7-5, 6-4 The turning point came in the eleventh game of the first set: Wawrinka misjudged the trajectory of the Russian’s forehand on the ball break and not recorded in response in the next game.
The Swiss didn’t give up and took home the first two games of the second set. Just when he should have consolidated the advantage and reopened the match, Wawrinka completely exited the match by losing his serve three times in a row.
Bad setback for Lorenzo Musetti at the Masters 1000 in Madrid. After reaching the quarterfinals in Monte-Carlo and the semifinals in Barcelona, the Italian left the Mutua Madrid Open on his debut after a match that didn’t see him shine, especially in service.
The qualifier Yannick Hanfmann won the match and gained access to the third round, liquidating Musetti with a score of 6-4, 7-6 (3) . The German played a game that was as intelligent as it was aggressive, and managed to put the Italian in trouble in return for long stretches of the game.
