Aryna Sabalenka she defeated Jessica Pegula 7:5, 7:5 in the final US Open. The Belarusian thus confirmed that she feels great in Grand Slam tournaments, especially those played on hard courts.
Sabalenka won both of this year's Grand Slam tournaments on concrete – the Australian Open and the US Open. These are her second and third such titles in her career. Why didn't Iga Świątek, who was the best there two years ago, fight for the triumph in New York?
Świątek should be like Nadal, not like Sabalenka
Mats Wilander, the 1988 US Open champion, emphasizes that the surface at the US Open has become faster. A Shelf prefers slower courts. – Iga suggested that she feels it and that she has a bit more time to react in this tournament [niż w przygotowującej do US Open imprezie w Cincinnati]and yet we didn’t see it – Wilander comments for Sport.pl.
– When we watched Rafael Nadal on hard courts, it was clear that he had to change his game from clay a bit – Wilander recalls. – But the basics of his game remained, he still put emphasis on the forehand with a lot of topspin. In my opinion, Iga will never win as much on fast hard courts as on clay courts, but I think she should not look for big changes, but base her game on clay, on the forehand with topspin. Just like Rafa did – adds the Eurosport expert.
Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam tournaments in his career, 14 of which on the clay courts of Roland Garros. Before he started winning other tournaments of this rank, he was already a four-time French Open champion. In his early years, he did not add spectacular results to his Parisian successes on the hard courts of the Australian Open and the US Open. At that time, he could only achieve semi-final (in the Australian Open 2008 – at that time he already had three Roland Garros championship titles to his credit and in 2008 he won another one).
Świątek currently has four Roland Garros wins, one US Open and a semi-final at the Australian Open. – It seems to me that at the moment, on fast hard courts, Iga is unnecessarily trying to catch up with flat-hitting players in terms of speed. She shouldn't chase Sabalenka, because when she plays like that, she wins points quickly, but also misses quickly, makes mistakes – Wilander analyses for us.
Świątek made many mistakes, and the expert comments: “I can't imagine”
Aggressive, fast play was Świątek's undoing in the quarterfinals. In the 2:6, 4:6 loss to Pegula, Iga made 41 unforced errors. With only 12 finishing shots. In this match, we saw that the Pole is trying to play in the style she prefers Pegula.
Wilander points out Świątek's mistakes, but at the same time is convinced that she will learn from them. Like Nadal did years ago. – Iga will only improve, I can't imagine her going in a bad direction. She will be better and better, and other players should still stick with her so that she doesn't escape them – Wilander sums up.