‘Rafael Nadal on the Female Side’: Iga Swiatek’s Relentless Pursuit to Be the Clay GOAT Dissected by Retired American Pro

It’s the very nature of professional sports to invite comparisons between athletes. Be it fans or experts, drawing parallels between players from distinct periods, genders, and surfaces is bound to raise eyebrows in the sporting community. Recently, former tennis pro, Sam Querrey’s candid remarks brought forth another one of those instances. This time it is between the former ATP World No. 1, Rafael Nadal, and the current WTA World No. 1, Iga Swiatek. But one question still remains: how? Well, Querrey has an interesting answer to that.

On May 29, the Racquet’s Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast arranged a special episode where the co-hosts, Rennae Stubbs and Querrey, delved into the ongoing French Open tournament players. Naturally, the conversation soon drifted toward the Polish tennis sensation and her match against Naomi Osaka. As the podcast was released before the match, Stubbs revealed her thoughts about who she was betting on to win

While she was rooting for the World No. 1, Querrey had a comparison ready with the King of Clay for her. “She’s trying to join Monica Seles who won three French opens in a row. We got Chris Evert, who’s won back to back and then made the semi-finals a couple of times and is up here with us now.”

Further adding to it, the former world No. 11 said, “Justine Henin with her with her matches were the third consecutive matches. so she is she is the Rafael Nadal on the female side right now and she’s playing incredible.”

Along with matching her career titles with Monica Seles, who won three consecutive French Open titles from 1990 to 1992, and Chris Evert (who won two titles in 1974 and 1975), Querrey also brought Justine Hennin into the picture. This is because she, too, won four French Open titles in her career).

However, what caught fans’ attention is the special reference to the King of Clay, who has an astounding record at Roland Garros with 14 titles and is unbeatable on the surface! Although Swiatek has already bagged three titles in this tournament, her current form promises that there is more to come. And especially this season, where Swiatek’s unwavering determination has already made her earn four titles and 21 overall! 

It was only a few weeks ago that we saw her clay court dominance over Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid and then in Rome. And now she has already swept past Naomi Osaka in the second round. Therefore, the anticipation is quite high. What adds more weight to this is how her ability to dictate play from the baseline on clay echoes that of Rafael Nadal himself. And why not? After all, Swiatek herself has made it very clear how her idol, Nadal, has been a great source of motivation for her on and off the court.

Iga Swiatek reveals how her fighting spirit is influenced by Rafael Nadal

Iga Swiatek has always been vocal about how she draws inspiration from the 22-grand-slam champion, Rafael Nadal, both on and off the court. Therefore, when she successfully competed against Leolia Jeanjean in the first round with a score of 6-1,6-2, Swiatek paid tribute to the Spaniard, who had his probable last match at Roland Garros a few days ago.

“He [Nadal] taught me that always fighting till the end and not giving up is the best way to go. He managed to turn around some matches that it seemed impossible to turn around. That really inspired me.”

Further adding, she continued, “But also how he is off the court; he’s really humble and really focused on the work. It seems that success didn’t change him. I just like the person he is overall.”

As she progresses in the tournament, one thing is certain. Iga Swiatek’s meteoric rise and relentless pursuit of excellence can indeed make her a candidate worthy of the title Rafael Nadal of the women’s game. Or perhaps, even better, a Queen of Clay in her own right?