French Open: 'Her worst match but she still won' - Iga Swiatek amazes Mats Wilander and Alize Lim in Paris

Published 28/05/2022 at 14:45 GMT

Iga Swiatek defeated Danka Kovinic today to book a spot in the fourth round of the French Open, where she will face off against Qinwen Zheng. However, she wasn’t as dominant today as usual, and Eurosport experts Mats Wilander and Alize Lim took the opportunity to discuss why that might be.

'Iga was a bit anxious' - Wilander analyses Swiatek performance in third round

Iga Swiatek is so good that despite her victory against Danka Kovinic being her “worst match”, she still won, said Eurosport expert Mats Wilander.

Swiatek, the world No.1, was able to come out on top in a tough third round against Kovinic at the French Open to extend her winning streak to 31 consecutive matches.

The encounter wasn’t as easy sailing as her previous two, and according to Wilander, the anxiousness was evident in Swiatek when she was doing press after the game.

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“I feel, now that I’m doing interviews on court, you get really close to the player and you can feel this energy that is sometimes very positive, sometimes very relaxed, [and] sometimes a little bit anxious,” he said.

“With Iga today in the match, it looked like she was a little bit anxious, and then in that interview, I could feel that she’s saying ‘Mats, let me get out of here because I want to go to the Bois De Boulogne, and I need to go so can you please stop asking me any more questions'. Do you know what I mean?

"6-3 4-1 and then something happened. [It was] maybe her worst match here, but she still won in two sets.”

Watch as Swiatek blasts shot so good her opponent can only stand and applaud

Fellow Eurosport expert Alize Lim couldn’t help but agree, saying: “She was speaking so fast, it was almost like she was rushing because maybe she still felt the emotions from the match, and like you said, she got tested a little bit more today.

“But is that it? When you’re so confident, when you’re such a dominant player, that you can win in two sets while not being at your best,” Lim said about the fact that Swiatek still got over the line without necessarily putting in the performance that fans have come to expect from her.

“Absolutely,” said Wilander. “And again, she got a great start - 3-0 after 15 minutes, and then it was even. She got a great start in the second set, 4-1, and then she relaxed a little bit or lost her concentration.”

The two also discussed other factors that may have put Swiatek off her game, like personal superstitions or simply the Parisian weather.

“Funny thing is that during the last three games, she put her long sleeves back on. It's not like it was colder. I remember that when she won the French Open in 2020 she was wearing it the whole time so I’m wondering if she’s not superstitious there a little bit,” said Lim.

“No. I asked her. Before the interview, I said ‘are you okay because you put your long sleeve on?’ And she said ‘no, it’s cold!’” confirmed Wilander.