We had difficulty recognizing her. Between the crushing machine of the first five matches and the feverish Iga Swiatek of the semi-final of the Australian Open on Thursday, deprived of a breath of (too much?) expected reunion with her great rival Aryna Sabalenka, there was a world. As a symbol, it was on her 40th unforced error – almost double her 22 winning shots – that the world number 2 abandoned all hope of triumph on the Rod Laver Arena at the end of a fatal super tie-break. 10 points to 8. But what happened to cause her to change her face like this?
Obviously, the sensations were not optimal. “It came down to one or two balls. What made the difference? This match was long, so there were a lot of dynamic changes and different moments. In the end, Madison was brave in her choices and she pushed me to my limits when she needed to. I didn’t feel as free as in previous matches to raise my voice in important moments“, noted the main interested party at a press conference.
Clément: “Swiatek may have suffered from not having been challenged earlier”
Video credit: Eurosport
There’s no way to win a match when you don’t move
Playing in the night session did not help Swiatek whose lift is more effective during the day in warmer conditions. But above all the Pole seemed very tense. Was it the awareness that Madison Keys, with her power and style of play close to that of Aryna Sabalenka on hard court, represented a completely different threat than what she had faced so far? “For sure, my previous opponents played at a different pace than Madison“, she conceded.
However, one would have thought that winning the first set would have allowed him to relax. This was not the case, quite the contrary. “I just stopped moving. So there’s no way to win a match when you don’t move, she lamented. Ultimately, no, I wouldn’t say I had the match in my racket. It was tense from the start. I wanted to forget the second set and get my game back. I played my tennis correctly in the first and third sets, but I wasn’t in 100% control like in my previous matches. I did everything I could. I wouldn’t say I missed out or that I should have won.“
When she broke at 5-5 in the last set, Swiatek seemed to have done the hard part. But the doubt and excitement never left her, including on this famous match point on her serve at 6-5, 40/30. Certainly, Keys then attacked her on the return, but the Pole did not know how to remain compact to initiate the exchange and force the American to play at least one more shot, as if taken by her emotions. With one exception, his destiny in this tournament took a turn for the worse. A frustration all the more difficult to digest as she also abandoned any chance of becoming world number 1 again at the end of the fortnight.
-A point reflecting the shock: the match point saved by Keys with guts against Swiatek
Video credit: Eurosport
I always felt tense here, but it was different this year
“To know how much it hurts, you have to experience it. I had my chance. I don’t know what will happen in the future, maybe I will have other opportunities. I think I’m quite spoiled, because I’ve always been able to take advantage of these opportunities. When I had an opportunity to win, I kind of always did it in the past. Obviously it’s disappointing when it doesn’t happen, but it’s sport, so it’s not always going to go my way. Madison did the job as she was supposed to. She totally deserves to be in the final.”greeted, philosopher the world number 1.
Like Wimbledon, the Australian Open therefore still resists it. But having come so close to a first final, Swiatek sees reason to hope to conquer it in the future. “As a person, I felt a little better than the previous years in Australia. The United Cup brings a lot of positive emotions, for sure, but I always felt tense and not really happy here“, she revealed.
And to conclude: “This year it was different, and it gives me positive vibes for the rest of the season. Of course I wanted more, I had already played a semi-final. I wanted to win this one. But if I continue to work hard, I will have more opportunities in the future. And maybe I’ll grab them, like I didn’t grab my match ball today.“
