“1GA” SWIATEK COMES TO BAD HOMBURG AS FRENCH OPEN WINNER!

Congratulations, Iga Swiatek! The top-seeded Pole, who is the newly crowned Roland Garros winner and will be serving at the Bad Homburg Open presented by Engel & Völkers in just over two weeks, defended her title at the French Open by defeating Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in a high-class final over 2:46 hours and remains the clay court queen. It was her third Paris coup in the past four years.

Swiatek starts in the Kurpark on June 26 – Paris > Bad Homburg > Wimbledon

The four-time Grand Slam winner can already be seen live and up close on June 26 (Monday) in her opening match on the Spielbank Bad Homburg Centre Court (tickets here https://badhomburg-open.de/de/tickets/). After her impressive success in Paris, the spa town is incidentally the only stop for Swiatek on her “Road to Wimbledon“.

At the second major tournament of the year, she once again lived up to her nickname “1GA” and fought her way back again and again in the final, even after setbacks. The energy performance was rewarded. The crowd favorite from Warsaw has now been at the top of the WTA rankings for over 14 months (April 4, 2022).

And Iga Swiatek is already looking forward to her premiere in the Kurpark. “I have already heard many good things about the Bad Homburg Open. Especially when it comes to the fans and the atmosphere on Centre Court,” said the 2022 US Open champion full of anticipation.

It fits the picture and also says a lot about the qualities of Swiatek that she set a world record at the hard court event in Doha in February. The Pole surrendered five games. No, not in the final – which, by the way, would have been worthy of all honors. But even better, she only conceded a total of five games on the way to her tournament victory. Only the iconic Suzanne Lenglen achieved the same feat at Wimbledon 100 years ago.

Iga, the “bagel” queen – sports psychologist as permanent team member

In any case, Swiatek is considered the “bagel” queen of the scene. She has already “punished” her opponent 71 times in her career with a sobering 6:0 – from her point of view. Which speaks for class and consistency.

After her dream year in 2022 (which included two Grand Slam triumphs and a run of 37 consecutive victories), the current season got off to a far from satisfactory start. At the Australian Open in January, the first major test of 2023, the petite right-hander was eliminated in the round of 16.

At the time, she made no secret of the fact that she felt her “head” sometimes flew off. Swiatek is one of the few on the circuit who is relatively open about the mental aspect of her sport and how she feels. She has relied on a sports psychologist by her side since the very beginning of her professional career. Daria Abramowicz is an integral part of the team. Like coach and physio.

“Iga is aware of the importance of the psychological aspect. She is aware that it is a big piece of the puzzle to be able to celebrate success in tennis,” Abramovic explained in an interview with online portal tennismajors.com. And Swiatek’s compatriot knows what makes her client so special: “Even on a bad day, Iga is open-minded and able to work things out.” Mind you, on AND off the court.

Speaking of which – the branch leader proves to be very versatile at all. For example, she founded a book club and likes to exchange content with fans. At the 1,000-player tournament in Rome in May, Swiatek appropriately browsed through the biography of Leonardo da Vinci, and in Paris these days “Beyond Eden” was the order of the day. He also watched the second season of the U.S. series “Ted Lasso.

Federer and Shiffrin are also Iga fans – “Like a chess player“.

It’s not just ex-professional Andrea Petkovic who goes into raptures when she talks about Swiatek’s tactical finesse: “Iga is like a chess player, every stroke is a move,” Petkovic enthused on the Eurosport program “Matchball Becker” these days.

The great Roger Federer and U.S. ski champion Mikaela Shiffrin also think highly of Swiatek, who was once also active in synchronized swimming. For the Swiss icon, the Pole is already an absolute “champion of the sport,” as Federer emphasized. The 20-time Grand Slam winner should know! Shiffrin, a top star herself, admires the “incredible mentality” of the number one in the tennis universe. Much praise for “1GA,” the undisputed queen of Paris!