5 milestones Iga Swiatek achieved after lifting French Open 2024 crown

Modified Jun 08, 2024 16:25 GMT

Iga Swiatek with the 2024 French Open trophy.

Iga Swiatek lifted her third consecutive, and fourth overall, French Open crown at the tournament’s 2024 edition. The Pole ousted Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 in the summit clash on June 8 to complete her dominant run.

With this win, Swiatek’s Grand Slam count has come up to five as she had also lifted the US Open trophy in 2022 after beating Ons Jabeur in the final.

There are, however, a handful of other less talked about milestones that the World No. 1 accomplished with her latest big win. Here, let's look at five such stats:

#5 Youngest player to lift fourth French Open women's singles title

Aged just 23 years and eight days, Iga Swiatek is the definition of a young champion. Her latest French Open crown, in fact, made her the youngest player with four trophies to boast of in Paris.

The Pole overtook the likes of Chris Evert, Justine Henin and Steffi Graf with her latest exploits.

Prior to her, Henin was the youngest player with four French Open crowns at the age of 25 years and eight days. Evert had achieved the feat at 25 years and 168 days old, while Graf got there aged 25 years and 361 days.

#4 Second player to win first five Grand Slam finals in Open Era

Swiatek with the 2023 French Open trophy.

It’s no secret that when Iga Swiatek gets going, she can be really hard to stop. The Pole has an incredible 22-4 win-loss record in the finals.

The record is even more impressive in Grand Slams, with the youngster having all five of finals that she has contested at the stage. Her first win came at the 2020 French Open when she beat Sofia Kenin. She has since lifted the titles at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 French Open besides the 2022 US Open.

The only other player to have won her first five Grand Slam finals is former World No. 1 Monica Seles.

#3 Iga Swiatek is the fourth World No. 1 to win a Grand Slam after saving MP

Swiatek saved a match in her second-round match against Naomi Osaka.

Iga Swiatek was on the verge of exiting the 2024 French Open in the second round as she found herself matchpoint down against Naomi Osaka.

The Pole managed to come through 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5 and did not drop another set all the way to the title. In doing so, she became just the fourth World No. 1 to win a Grand Slam after having saved match points.

Martina Navratilova did it first at the 1986 US Open, with Jeniffer Capriati and Serena Williams following in the footsteps at the 2002 and 2003 Australian Open respectively.

#2 Fewest games dropped in the second week en-route to winning a Grand Slam

Following her second-round tussle against Naomi Osaka, Iga Swiatek went into overdrive mode for the rest of the tournament.

At 11, Swiatek dropped the fewest number of games in the second week of a Grand Slam en-route to winning the title. She equalled the record held by two other greats of the sport — Martina Navaratilova (1983 US Open) and Chris Evert (1976 US Open).

#1 Second player to win Madrid, Rome and French Open titles in a year

Iga Swiatek finds herself in the middle of an incredible year, having already lifted five trophies.

Two of these wins came at WTA 1000 clay events on her beloved clay — Madrid Open and Italian Open. By capping off a near-flawless clay season with a French Open title, she became just the second woman to have all three big claycourt titles in one season.

Prior to her, Serena Williams had achieved the feat by winning the titles in the Spanish, Italian and French capitals in 2013.