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Iga Swiatek now reaping benefits of putting studies ahead of pursuing tennis career after French Open glory

Iga Swiatek celebrates with the French Open trophy a day after thrashing Sofia Kenin - Getty Images
Iga Swiatek celebrates with the French Open trophy a day after thrashing Sofia Kenin - Getty Images

If there is a lesson from Iga Swiatek’s phenomenal French Open, which culminated on Saturday in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, it is that a more rounded person often turns out to be a better tennis player as well.

All over the world – and especially in Britain – ambitious parents assume that their talented little shotmaker would benefit from total absorption in the game. Yet Swiatek chose to prioritise her schooling, only switching her full attention to tennis once she had completed the equivalent of A-levels this summer.

“When she was starting to build her ranking as a 16-year-old, I asked her if she wanted to go full time on the tour,” said Nick Brown, the British mentor who guided Swiatek to the junior Wimbledon title two years ago. “She said, ‘No, I’m staying at school.’ It was non-negotiable. And I thought ‘Good for her.’

“She was saying ‘If it takes a little longer to break through, I believe I can do that,’” Brown added. “She wasn’t in a hurry. It’s a good lesson for younger players.”

The Swiatek theory – if we may call it that – also applies to another 19-year-old who has caught the eye over the past fortnight. In Wednesday’s quarter-finals, Jannik Sinner became Rafael Nadal’s 98th victim at Roland Garros, but not before his massive groundstrokes had caused genuine anxiety on the far side of the net.

Swiatek finished her A Levels earlier this year - Shutterstock
Swiatek finished her A Levels earlier this year - Shutterstock

The parallel here is that tennis was only a minor hobby for Sinner until he turned 12. Then, having established himself as a genuine prospect on the slopes, he suddenly shelved his skis and picked up a racket in earnest. Contrast that trajectory with the British system. By the time our children turn 12, the Lawn Tennis Association has been separating “priority” juniors from the rest for fully four years.

To return to Swiatek, the alarming thing for her rivals is what happens now. How much better can she can become, now that she is no longer carting around her textbooks on “advanced math and English”? As her coach Piotr Sierzputowski has explained, "I had to schedule practice at 7am because she had to go to school and I'm asking, 'Why are you tired? Did you sleep well?' She said, 'No, I was studying during the night.'”

The theory of marginal gains, so beloved of the LTA’s last performance director Simon Timson, has yet to impact on Swiatek’s nascent career. Take her racket, for instance. This hasn’t changed since 2015, when she started using a Prince model – the TXT 100 – that is rarely seen on the tour.

“I think we're going to test some more [rackets] during this pre-season,” Swiatek acknowledged after her semi-final win over Nadia Podoroska. “I'm going to need to deal with some stuff that I haven't dealt with before.”

She will also need to deal with newfound fame in her native Poland, which has never previously produced a major champion of either gender. But one suspects that Swiatek will cope. As Brown says, “She is an old head on young shoulders – a little like Martina Hingis at the same age.”

Swiatek’s most important victory of the fortnight was arguably her fourth-round demolition of top seed and tournament favourite Simona Halep. At the post-match video-conference, one question focused on her love of music – not only the raucous Guns N’ Roses track (Welcome to the Jungle) which she used to get her in the mood for each contest but also her wider interest in 1970s rock and even jazz.

“I just wanted to have bigger knowledge about something that is not tennis,” replied Swiatek. It could be the motto for her entire career.