Been a while, eh folks?
You're probably sick to death hearing my voice over the last couple of weeks with podcast episodes and appearances on Talking Tennis aplenty so here we are with a much more orderly written analysis.
Today, we're looking at Iga Swiatek's win over Ons Jabeur in the 2022 US Open final.
This is Swiatek's third Grand Slam title.
Swiatek becomes the first woman to win two Slams in the same season since Angelique Kerber in 2016.
Swiatek becomes the first woman to win the French and US Opens in the same year since Serena in 2013.
Though Iga was expected to win, the way the final played out was fairly unexpected.
It was a match of two halves... Let's take a closer look at some of the more important points and Jabeur's resistance throughout!
Iga Being Iga
It doesn't take a genius to work out what was going on for the first set and a bit.
As she has in her last ten finals, Swiatek came out firing...
Many of her more avid followers would maybe have been shocked by the quick start however. During the entirety of her US Open and the North American swing, Swiatek had never felt fully comfortable. Here's what she had to say after the match.
"That was the only match here where I started that well. I had that at the beginning of the season I had many matches where I started that well but it kind of disappeared a bit in second part of the season. It gave me a lot of confidence for sure... When I go on court I forget about that and I only focus on the things that are gonna make me play better and just win points and I realised that if I’m gonna win points and I’m gonna play well, the stress is gonna go away anyway."
Swiatek's perspective on pressure and knowing she can play well enough to eradicate it is fascinating. Despite her self-professed general lack of confidence, it's clear she has a champion's outlook in trusting in her tennis to see her through.
She went on...
“For sure the weather changed cause it wasn’t that hot in the second part of the tournament... At the beginning of the swing, I had to force myself to make technical adjustments... Sometimes I wasn’t able to do it every time so I was making a lot of mistakes and then I finally accepted I was gonna make those mistakes. It’s not gonna be like a slow surface where I can you know build a rally and just finish. There’s gonna be more risk and less control. I accepted that... that was the thing that actually led me to play more free.”
Sorry for the long quote but it's important to have context going forward...
Here's a summary of my takeaways.
The colder weather allowed Swiatek to swing more freely from the start of the match.
Trusting in her game helped Swiatek alleviate the pressure of a final.
Accepting mistakes throughout the tournament gave her the confidence to go for it from the get-go.
With Jabeur clearly a little tight and Swiatek armed with Daria Abramowicz's and her own mental strength, the first set was more or less one-way traffic.
Then things got interesting...
Ons Being Ons
One word to describe Ons Jabeur's campaign at the US Open?
Resilient.
In the face of constant adversity, Jabeur recovered to bring matches back to level pegging.
Elizabeth Mandlik served for their first set in the second-round. Jabeur won 7-5 6-2.
Shelby Rogers was a set up in the third-round. Jabeur won 4-6 6-4 6-3.
Veronika Kudermetova served for their first set in the fourth-round and was 3-0 in her head-to-head with Jabeur. Jabeur won 7-6 6-4.
Ajla Tomljanovic served for their second set in the quarterfinals. Jabeur won 6-4 7-6.
From behind, Jabeur had been the woman of steel in New York. Maybe it was no surprise that from a set and a break and a break down in the final, she had the clarity of mind to claw her way back.
Before Jabeur's game really started to take-off (and rally dynamics consequently became very relevant), she came up with these serves to pull herself back from the precipice.
Jabeur proceeded to win that game and, though she eventually conceded another a break, eventually brought the match to 4-4.
With Iga's serve generally never too risky and Jabeur infrequently catching Swiatek off-guard again on return, the match became very rally-centric...
The Context Of THAT Forehand
If you remember the final well, I know what you're thinking.
Fast-forward to Swiatek being down 4-5 in the tiebreak. She's locked in a stalemate with Jabeur, neither player able to graft an advantage.
Out of nowhere, Swiatek hits the flashiest forehand she's hit in the match so far...
Remember what Swiatek said about making mistakes and accepting them? As Jabeur made her comeback attempt, it was the forehand of Swiatek that looked the most vulnerable, her extreme grip being rushed by the quick conditions of the court.
Swiatek hit three winners to 16 (!) unforced errors on this wing in the second set.
As Jabeur grew in confidence from a losing position, she added pace and depth to her oft-nervy forehand to exploit the Swiatek forehand.
It's no mean feat to find the correct forehand to attack with of course - Jabeur first had to wrestle with Swiatek's backhand to get a central enough ball to add pace to. It's Swiatek's backhand that has improved on hard-courts this year however so it was a difficult balance for Jabeur to strike.
Battle with the Swiatek backhand too long and Swiatek will likely take the iniative.
Go into the Swiatek forehand too early and you risk giving Swiatek time on that wing - then you're toast.
Jabeur's advantage in the rallies was even enough to earn her two break points at 4-4...
The shift from the first set to the second set was clear.
Swiatek forehands that featured in a winning point in the first set: 38-17 = 69%
Swiatek forehands that featured in a winning point in the second set: 58-80 = 42%
Let's dive back into that tiebreak...
Jabeur eventually finds herself 5-4 up - and here we are at THAT point.
Swiatek's (top) forehand return is decent prompting a shorter Jabeur (bottom) forehand.
Swiatek does well to send the first blow back with pace but the Tunisian doesn't relent, sending it back at the same speed to try and force a short forehand cross.
Swiatek changes direction at the right time to avoid this dynamic grafting the slightest of advantages from Jabeur's backhand cross.
Swiatek immediately takes on a riskier backhand down the line but it isn't close enough to the lines to prevent Jabeur slapping it back cross-court with depth.
Basically Jabeur got the shot she wanted, albeit from a slightly defensive position, sending her final forehand back seriously deep to start the forehand cross dynamic she'd been searching for...
And that's when it happened.
Despite knowing she'd been making mistakes on this wing, despite knowing fine well she was in a poor position in the rally, despite knowing the scoreline was 4-5 in the tiebreak, Swiatek hit the riskiest shot she could have from that position, her body weight going slightly backwards, nailing her forehand to the line.
Jabeur's reaction says it all.
US Open 2022: How Iga Swiatek defeated Ons Jabeur
In summary...
Swiatek's mentality in finals, the cooler weather and Jabeur's tightness gave her a superb start.
Jabeur's looseness and tactical clarity in the face of adversity stopped her from going out early in that second set.
Jabeur's ability to boss the forehand rallies allowed her to dictate most of the rallies in the last section of the match.
Swiatek set herself apart by playing better in the most important point of the match.
Swiatek blew my mind with that shot in particular despite the overall below-par performance. Her ability to come up with that shot given all of the context is INSANE and, even in isolation, merits her being lauded as a cut above the rest of the tour.
It seems certain Jabeur will have her chances at Wimbledon at the very least over the coming years but with Swiatek gatekeeping in the manner she did this fortnight, who knows when a woman not named Iga wins another hard-court or clay Slam.
Seriously impressive. Bravo Iga 👏
