Iga Swiatek crushes Aryna Sabalenka to claim her third Rome title dominantly! Not only did her outstanding performance at the Italian Open win her praise from tennis enthusiasts, but WTA luminaries as well. Martina Navratilova and American ski racer Lindsay Vonn recently commemorated the four-time Grand Slam champion’s incredible run of victories at the Italian Open.
Following the Polish tennis player’s lift of the Italian Open trophy, the 59-time Grand Slam champion shared a WTA post on Twitter showing the Rome winner jumping with excitement. Along with that, she captioned it and wrote, “Looking sharp!”
Looking sharp! https://t.co/WQiCfB0Phs
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) May 18, 2024
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On the other hand, the 39-year-old American ski racer took to her social media to applaud the amazing victory. In addition, she also shared a video by WTA and captioned “Yesssss girl!!” The Polish tennis player beat Sabalenka for the seventh time in their 11 meetings in just one hour and 29 minutes. In three of the last four years, Swiatek has won in Rome. In 2021 and 2022, he also won the WTA 1000 title.
After the victory, the world number one talked about the hard work she had put in against the two-time Grand Slam champion. She said, “I kind of knew that if I’m going to work hard and if I’m going to be in the right mindset, this is achievable. I’m happy I was so focused and disciplined throughout the tournament to do that.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who will be 23 at the end of this month, becomes the second woman in Open Era history to win three or more Internazionali BNL d’Italia titles before turning 23. The record is held by Gabriela Sabatini, who won four Rome titles prior to turning 22.
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But her performance at Indian Wells surprised the 67-year-old tennis veteran. Navratilova shared a very strong statement regarding the world’s number-one-ranked tennis player’s continuous victory run from one tournament to another.
Martina Navratilova believes that it’s really hard to stop Iga Swiatek’s “momentum”
A few months back, after winning the semi-final round at Indian Wells, the Czech-American former tennis player revealed her thoughts in a post-match segment of Sky Sports. Navratilova said, “She’s a great frontrunner. That’s when the players need to stay close to her at the beginning of the match. Once she really gets going, it’s really hard to stop her momentum, and she grows in confidence, and she covers the court so well. She settles down the lines.”
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Further, she added, “But she’s just putting it all on service right now, and once she gets ahead, watch out. So I would be thinking about only the first four games if I’m playing her. I gotta say it to all or better. Once she gets ahead, good luck.” Just as Navratilova thought Swiatek could hold a match from the beginning, she also thought the Polish player had the potential to surpass the best players in the WTA.
Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on the Pole’s dominance? Do let us know in the comment section below.