La reine conserve sa couronne. Impitoyable, Iga Swiatek a remporté ce samedi son 22e titre WTA, le 5e en Grand Chelem et surtout le 3e de suite Porte d'Auteuil. Monica Seles et Justine Henin étaient auparavant les seules joueuses à avoir remporté Roland-Garros trois années consécutives. Elles sont désormais trois. En finale, la Polonaise, comme à son habitude, a été impériale. Bousculée en début de partie, la n°1 mondiale a été breakée et menée 2 jeux à 1 par Jasmine Paolini avant de dérouler en gagnant dix jeux consécutifs. Le mal était fait pour l'Italienne, qui sauvera l'honneur en inscrivant un jeu en fin de match, avant de s'incliner lourdement sur le score de 6-2, 6-1. Sacrée à Madrid, Rome et Roland-Garros, Swiatek est seulement la deuxième femme à réaliser cet exploit, après Serena Williams en 2013. Elle est aussi la sixième joueuse de l'histoire à remporter ce tournoi en ayant sauvé une balle de match durant la quinzaine, au deuxième tour contre Naomi Osaka.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 [APPLAUSE]
00:05 Thank you.
00:07 Thank you.
00:10 All right.
00:11 Let's go ahead and get started once we get that trophy down.
00:15 Thank you.
00:17 Iga, congratulations.
00:19 Your third straight Roland Garros title, your fourth overall,
00:22 and your fifth slam.
00:23 Just talk us through what this accomplishment means to you.
00:27 It means a lot.
00:28 This tournament has been pretty surreal with its beginning
00:33 and with second round.
00:34 And then I was able to get my game better and better
00:38 every match.
00:38 So I'm really proud of myself because the expectations
00:43 obviously have been pretty high from the outside and pressure
00:47 as well.
00:47 So I'm happy that I just went for it.
00:50 And I was ready to deal with all of this.
00:53 And yeah, and I could win.
00:55 [INAUDIBLE]
01:00 Do you have the feeling that today you
01:03 played the perfect match?
01:04 I think looking at the whole situation and the fact
01:11 that during the finals there is sometimes a lot of pressure,
01:15 I think it was a really good match.
01:18 Obviously, I mean, I got broken at the beginning.
01:21 So it wasn't maybe perfect.
01:22 But I think the level was pretty high.
01:26 And it wasn't so easy as the score says.
01:30 And yeah, I think I played pretty well considering
01:34 all these facts and the pressure.
01:37 You get a congrats.
01:38 Thank you.
01:39 You've got the reputation of being a front runner
01:41 over the course of your career, running away with matches,
01:43 building a big lead.
01:44 But this year, based on what you did in the second round,
01:47 you did it from deep trouble.
01:48 And I just wonder what kind of satisfaction
01:50 does it give you to be able to win those kind of matches
01:53 like you had in Madrid, like you had here with Naomi?
01:55 Does it give you, you think, extra confidence
01:57 or even something special for your future development?
02:00 Well, for sure, it gives me the feeling
02:03 that I should always believe in myself, that I can find
02:07 my tennis even if I'm in big trouble, you know?
02:09 And with this tennis, you know, fight back.
02:13 So it gives me confidence.
02:17 And we'll see, you know, I always try my best,
02:20 no matter what the score is.
02:21 So sometimes it's going to end up like that.
02:24 Sometimes I'm going to lose.
02:26 But when you're trying your best,
02:28 it's always the best solution because you have no regrets.
02:32 And you can turn tournaments into something like that.
02:37 Congratulations, Iga.
02:41 Thank you.
02:43 Just working off that, do you even
02:46 remember like a version of yourself
02:48 that might have reacted differently
02:50 to those tense moments, whether it was with Naomi
02:55 or the sort of moment in the second set with Coco
02:58 or even today, early on when she got the first break?
03:03 And if you had sort of-- and would that version of yourself
03:09 believe that you were doing these things now?
03:13 Maybe not certainly because I wasn't that kind of person
03:17 that always knew that I'm going to be on the top of WTA
03:21 rankings and win so many tournaments.
03:25 So yeah, I can remember it easily.
03:29 But it doesn't really matter because we all
03:33 come from different places.
03:35 And at the end, I made a huge work
03:38 to manage things so I can turn things around
03:42 in these high pressure moments.
03:46 Hi, Iga.
03:46 First of all, right here.
03:48 First of all, congratulations on a great success.
03:51 There's a famous picture of you five years ago in Rome
03:54 when you couldn't get in the qualis of the tournament.
03:58 Now you're here five years later having five Grand Slam titles.
04:02 Could you take us a bit to the journey
04:05 of not being able to get in the qualis
04:07 and now having a title right next to you?
04:09 Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
04:11 Like in tennis, I feel like this journey,
04:16 it's pretty fair for everybody.
04:18 You just have to fight through these moments
04:21 where you can't get into tournaments
04:24 and play on ITF level, then start playing on WTA level.
04:29 But it all went pretty quickly for me.
04:32 My progress was basically like that.
04:35 I never really stopped.
04:38 So I'm for sure proud of it.
04:41 And it's weird, but on the other hand,
04:44 it's normal because I was, what, 18 or something?
04:47 So yeah.
04:50 Iga, congratulations.
04:56 You said earlier on the court that it
04:58 was a very emotional win today.
05:02 If you can expand on that and tell us why it was emotional.
05:05 And also, when you talk about pressure,
05:08 do you largely mean the pressure you put on yourself?
05:12 When I talk about pressure, usually I
05:15 put pressure on myself because of pressure of the outside.
05:19 So obviously, I'm a perfectionist,
05:23 so there is always pressure behind me.
05:25 But I think I'm fine with handling my own pressure.
05:31 It's when the pressure from the outside hits me,
05:33 then it's a little bit worse.
05:35 But I managed it really well at this tournament.
05:40 And it was an emotional win because I felt a lot of stress
05:45 yesterday and today in the morning.
05:47 And I knew that if I'm going to just focus on tennis,
05:51 I can fight through it.
05:54 And at the end, it all went how I wanted.
05:57 So I just felt really proud of myself.
06:00 Hi, Iga.
06:04 You just described yourself as a perfectionist.
06:07 I'm wondering, do you mean only when
06:09 it comes to tennis or in other aspects of life?
06:13 And if it is a broader thing than just tennis,
06:17 could you tell us a little bit about in what ways
06:19 or what examples there might be of that?
06:23 Well, when I do anything, I want to do it 100%.
06:26 And I think when you're a perfectionist,
06:34 you're a perfectionist everywhere.
06:36 So yeah, basically, it comes up to doing everything 100%
06:48 and sometimes not being able to let it go.
06:52 But I'm working on it.
06:55 And this is a tricky thing because for sure,
06:57 it helps you to be better.
06:59 But sometimes it can be a huge baggage as well.
07:03 So it's good to manage it properly.
07:06 Would you mind sharing a way or two,
07:11 a way from the court in which you find yourself
07:14 wanting to be perfect?
07:16 We're not on therapy, so sorry.
07:21 Hi, Iga, just here.
07:22 You shared the stage afterwards with Martina and Chris,
07:25 two great champions and great rivals as well.
07:27 You've obviously won finals here against four different people.
07:30 And maybe you don't have a rival here
07:32 because you've been so dominant.
07:33 Do you imagine a time when you will have someone
07:36 who comes along who's able to challenge you here
07:39 and play great finals against you?
07:40 And how do you think you'll deal with that mentally?
07:43 Well, I think we already have some players
07:46 that I've been facing a lot, like Arina, Coco, Elena.
07:52 So it's not like we don't have that.
07:54 But for sure, it's not so obvious,
07:58 like Roger, Novak and Rafa.
08:03 But I don't know.
08:07 Sometimes it's the draw.
08:09 Sometimes it's the fact that one player is going to play well here,
08:13 one player is going to play well in another place.
08:16 So I can for sure imagine that.
08:19 But I don't know which of these players that would be.
08:24 Or maybe somebody new. We'll see.
08:27 Hi, Igor. Congrats.
08:30 You've talked a lot about how your first win here
08:32 was so unexpected and changed everything.
08:35 I'm curious now that you've done it four times,
08:38 how has your experience helped you in these difficult moments,
08:43 like the Naomi match and also you mentioned the stress before this match?
08:47 Well, for sure I have plenty of experiences where I felt stress
08:53 or I knew that this match was going to be really important
08:56 and a high pressure match.
08:58 But I was able to manage it and then you can just use it
09:02 when you have next situations like that.
09:05 Because it's not like, "Oh, it's my fifth Grand Slam final,
09:10 I'll have no stress because of that."
09:13 Usually it doesn't work like that.
09:16 So for sure the experience helps.
09:19 It's kind of easier to do it as an underdog, I would say.
09:25 So that gives me even more positive feelings
09:30 that I managed everything properly.
09:32 Hi, Igor. One of the challenges for any French Open champion
09:39 is the short amount of time between the French Open and Wimbledon.
09:44 Could you imagine a time where you would maybe want to devote
09:48 more time to getting ready for Wimbledon?
09:50 Do you feel like that now, maybe?
09:52 I had these ideas, like doing pre-season on grass
09:57 so I can learn how to play there.
09:59 But last year's result was pretty nice
10:02 and I feel like every year it's easier for me to adapt to grass.
10:07 So I think there's no need to do that.
10:10 I just need to continue the work that I've been doing.
10:12 And it's been easier every year,
10:16 especially with my coach who's been playing.
10:19 I mean, with Agard Majska, they had great results on grass
10:22 and he kind of feels the grass well, I think.
10:25 But yeah, for sure it's a huge challenge.
10:29 If I would lose here earlier,
10:31 maybe I would be able to play two more weeks on grass
10:34 and then be a better grass player.
10:36 But if I would choose, you know, I love playing on clay.
10:39 So I'm not going to give up that ever.
10:44 Just building on that,
10:46 it was after Rafa's fourth title here that he won his first Wimbledon.
10:50 And I just wondered how you feel it's kind of changed from year on year.
10:55 You mentioned there that there was improvement last year.
10:58 Do you feel each year maybe that you're getting closer
11:02 and understanding how to get that balance of going deep here
11:04 and then instantly making that adjustment?
11:06 Well, it's not like I've had so many years doing that,
11:10 so I don't know yet.
11:11 But I felt last year that I could adapt quicker.
11:15 And I'll also see what the plan is for this year.
11:21 Because last year it was the first time I was able to play this tournament before.
11:27 I played at Hamburg, so I think to play some matches on grass
11:31 before the Wimbledon is also good.
11:33 But on the other hand, I played basically almost every match
11:38 in Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome and here.
11:41 So we need to take care of my physicality as well.
11:45 So we'll see what the plans are.
11:47 But I think the biggest progress I can make on grass right now
11:52 is using my serve that was better.
11:55 But also, I don't expect a lot because the balls are different.
12:01 Overall, tennis is different on grass.
12:04 So I'll just see and I'll work hard to play better there.
12:10 Congrats.
12:11 Thank you.
12:12 Winning Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros,
12:14 winning here with everybody telling you you couldn't lose,
12:17 I just wonder if you've proved yourself anything
12:20 or learned something new about yourself during this stretch?
12:24 I honestly learned that I can make it.
12:27 Because at the beginning, eight weeks ago when I went to Fed Cup
12:32 and then I didn't come back home for all these weeks,
12:35 I was like, "Oh my God."
12:38 When I look at my calendar on my phone, it looks crazy.
12:41 How am I going to survive that?
12:43 But here I am.
12:45 And honestly, I think I learned that if I enjoy life off the court
12:51 and I really enjoyed being in Madrid, Rome and here,
12:57 it helps me also to be fresh on court.
13:00 So I think I had less drama compared to last year.
13:07 And I could really just enjoy life.
13:10 So then I felt more energy on the court.
13:14 Thank you, everyone.
13:16 Thank you very much.
13:17 Thanks for the whole week.
13:19 Two weeks.
13:21 (audience laughing)
13:23 (upbeat music)